History is a tapestry woven with choices—some deliberate, some inevitable. As part of the #CulturalxCollabs project by the Museum for Islamic Art (SMB Berlin), I received a fragment of a carpet that mirrors the famous 17th century Dragon carpet in the museum’s collection. The original carpet, woven in Caucaus (in what is today Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran) was partially destroyed during the Second World War bombings of Berlin in 1945. Years later, what kind of dialogue can this carpet and its twin inspire? Read on to participate in a critical thinking challenge and to see 3 objects from the Government museum Chandigarh in conversation with the carpet-fragment.
A Carpet Fragment and a Critical Thinking Challenge
I turned to The Heritage Lab‘s Instagram community to first understand what the carpet fragment represented to them.
War is not a thing of the past – its influence stretches far beyond the battlefield. War-time decisions continue to shape our societies, cultures, and collective memory.
Inspired by the Instagram-community, this critical thinking challenge invites you to reflect on how pivotal wartime decisions, both big and small, have shaped the world we live in today. What might have been different if key moments in history had taken another path?
Weaving the Future : Join the conversation !
Submit your answer, and have the chance to own a fragment! When the museum reopens at the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin (spring 2027), all the carpet fragments, their stories and journeys would be displayed. Exciting, right? So lets begin!
How to Join: 
Add your answer to the image by using the text box. You can add a space bar above or (/and) below the image 
Please add your name and email to the ‘Title’ field Hit Save to Submit.
Feel encouraged to experiment with the visual look – choose fonts, colours for text or background and so on!
The Carpet : in Conversation with 3 Objects from collections of the Government Museum & Art Gallery, Chandigarh.
To deepen this reflection, here is the carpet, placed alongside 3 objects from the museum in Chandigarh. They represent fragmented stories of cultural heritage—each shaped by a moment of history that redefined identity, and borders – both geographic and cultural.
