NFT was created from a carpet that the United Arab Emirates presented as a gift to Pope Francis a few years back. The original carpet is still in Vatican City, but its digital replica has been used successfully to raise funds for Afghan people.
NFT of Historic Carpet Sold at 25 ETH
The Pontifex carpet, which was presented by Sheikh Mohamad Bin Zyed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi to Pope Francis on his visit to the Vatican City, was presented to him by the Crown Prince. They met with Pope Francis in September 2016 for a discussion about strengthening bilateral relations between UAE, Vatican, and inter-religious harmony.
According to the Khaleej Times, in Dubai, an NFT token representing the carpet sold on Friday for 25 Ethereum, which is close to $82,000. This sale raised money to help Afghan families that are in need during cold winter months.
The physical carpet will remain with the Catholic Church’s head. It was hand-woven in Afghanistan by Afghan women. A scaled-down replica of the original carpet will be provided to the buyer of NFT by Zuleya (the retail arm Fatima Bint Mohamed Bin Zayed Initiative)
The initiative was established in 2010 to bring a change to the harsh lives of Afghanistan’s women and children. FBMI is an investment in education and healthcare. It also invests in a variety of economic and social reforms. There are also opportunities for employment in agriculture, arts and crafts.
Maywand Jabarkhyl, FBMI’s chief executive, described the NFT sale as a “crucial step forward” for the initiative. He explained that it would allow its design team to show their work to a worldwide audience, and open up new revenue streams for Afghan artisans.
“This is perhaps the most iconic NFT to be sold in the Middle East,” said Musfir Khawaja, co-founder of Nftone, a marketplace based in Dubai International Financial Centre which listed the NFT. “The buyer will get the physical replica of the carpet besides an ornate gold frame on a 165 cm digital canvas with the NFT loaded on it,” he explained.
It is among six items that were featured on digital canvases during the Abu Dhabi Art fair. Zuleya created the carpet in NFT partnership with Morrow Collective NFT platform.
While NFTs are a way to digitally reproduce files like photos, videos and audio, they have only gained popularity in the last two years. Recent Reuters reports revealed that NFT sales surpassed $25 billion in 2021.
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