Jaap van Beelen and his unique collection of old Bulgarian carpets

published on 7/21/24 9:05 AM

Jaap van Beelen

Photo: Private archive

He says he has not felt like a foreigner in Bulgaria for a long time. This is his home, he has learnt Bulgarian and like most of our compatriots he is interested in the political situation in the country. But his greatest passion, what fills his days with light and meaning, are the old Bulgarian carpets.

Dutchman Jaap van Beelen has lived in Bulgaria for almost 16 years. He is a collector and the proud owner of over 900 authentic Bulgarian carpets from all over the country. Recently, some of them were presented at a special exhibition in Paris organized by the Bulgarian Cultural Institute.

Listen to the full interview with Jaap van Beelen of Radio Bulgaria's Veneta Nikolova:

00:00 / 00:00

Jaap van Beelen and his unique collection of old Bulgarian carpets

"I was very happy that for the first time my carpets were shown in an exhibition outside Bulgaria. In Paris, 60 of my carpets were exhibited, but the organisers asked me to talk about carpets from lesser-known areas in Bulgaria. So my book was included in the exhibition, in which I present 87 rugs with detailed descriptions of patterns and traditions, etc. It is in English and French. As far as I know, this is the first publication on the subject written in a foreign language," says the collector.

But how did his interest in Bulgarian carpet making begin?

In his homeland, Jaap was a publisher of legal literature, but his soul was elsewhere. He says he has always been a fan of Bulgarian folklore. That is why he worked as a choreographer for Bulgarian, Romanian and Hungarian folk dance groups. He is also the founder of the Chubritsa Choir in Amsterdam, one of the longest-running Bulgarian folk choirs outside our country.

Chubritsa - the Dutch choir named after a Bulgarian spice

He admits that one of the reasons he moved to Bulgaria is that the Bulgarian cultural heritage coexists with living traditions. "Not only is the past represented in museums, it is still part of the lives of Bulgarians," says Jaap. In 2007, the Dutchman settled in the town of Kotel where he acquired a large wooden house near the Ethnographic Museum containing a rich collection of Kotel carpets:

Jaap van Beelen's house in Kotel

"I decided to decorate all my 8 rooms and the corridors with very beautiful carpets, as tradition dictates. And when people found out that I was willing to buy their carpets, they started coming and offering them to me. Over time, I had piled 3, 4 and even 5 rugs on top of each other in each room. And so I began to take an interest in the Bulgarian carpetmaking tradition, to read scientific literature and to seek out old samples not only from Kotel, but also from Chiprovtsi and other parts of Bulgaria. During one of my trips to Turkey, near the town of Konya, I found a large quantity of antique Chiprovtsi carpets. And I was lucky enough to acquire priceless specimens and bring them back to their country of origin. That's how it all began," the collector recalls.

Apart from carpets and folklore, Jaap is also fascinated by Bulgarian nature. He has travelled the length and breadth of most of Bulgaria's mountains. He even ran a tourist business for a while:

"In the early years I had my own company for cultural and eco tourism. I led groups, mostly foreigners, sometimes Bulgarians, in the mountains around Kotel, which I know by heart. I showed them Kotel, Zheravna and the natural resources around. I also organized so-called ethnic meetings. One day my guests visited the homes of Bulgarians, the next they went to the Karakachans, then they visited the Turks, the Roma and so on. Thus they would get to know local crafts, cuisine, music", Jaap explains.

However, winters in Kotel are hard, and as the Dutchman got older, he needed easier access to medical and other services. So some time ago he moved to Veliko Tarnovo, where he actively participates in public life. Jaap is a member of the Green Movement party and, until recently, was a municipal councillor.