HISTORY OF RUGS & KILIMS
History of Rugs
Weaving rugs is an ancient and respectful form of art. The precise date and location of the origin of this art form are not known, however, it is believed that weaving rugs as we know today initiated in Central Asia and Egypt around second millennium B.C. The oldest rug that is known today was found in a burial site in outer Mongolia. The rug, which is named as the "Pazyryk Carpet", was buried over 2500 years and it was frozen under the Siberian ice in the Altai Mountains region. Currently, the Pazyryk Carpet is displayed in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia and it has been dated back to the fifth century B.C. It was built by a knotting style that is still used today. The "Turkish Knot" was first used in Inner Asia and the Pazyryk Carpet was built by this technique, nevertheless, there are different opinions about the people or tribe, which made the rug.Oriental Rugs were first introduced to Europe via the "Silk Road" and some sea trading routes in the 17th Century. Unexpectedly, the name "Silk Road" is relatively recent, in the middle of the 19th century the German scholar, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen named the greatest and oldest (Second century B.C.) east-west trade route as the Silk Road. The Silk Road was used for many goods, obviously for silk, regional commodities and high valued trade items such as oriental rugs. Initially, oriental rugs were appreciated mostly by the rich and aristocrats of the empires and tribes located throughout the Silk Road. During his journey on the Silk Road, Marco Polo traveled through the Caucasus and Anatolia Turkey in 1271 and documented the exquisiteness of the Turkish and Caucasian Oriental rugs that he witnessed. By the mid of the 19th century, the oriental rugs reached most of Europe and America. Oriental rug weaving is a very old tradition and as expected there is a significant amount of variety in terms of styles, types, materials and names. The oriental rugs are usually named after the town in Turkey, Persia, or the Caucasus where the design and techniques originated. There are two main rug designs that can be observed; geometric and floral. Geometric rugs have been woven for thousands of years by the villagers and nomads of the Middle East and Central Asia. The tribal rug designs were carried over from generation to generation each telling unique stories. Click here for our symbols on rugs page for more information. The common denominator of all Oriental Rugs is that they are woven by hand. Oriental pile rugs are made by first stringing warp threads. Cotton is a commonly used material for the warps. Other materials used as warps include wool and silk. The quality and the fineness of the rug can be determined by the number of warps per inch or centimeter square. The other type of oriental rugs is the flat weave, which does not have a pile and is called a Kilim.
History of Kilims
Kilim is a Turkish word that means flat-woven oriental rug. It is made like the Navajo rugs, without a pile. Kilims have always been a significant element of the Analtolian culture, people of this old land used Kilims for many different purposes. The oldest settlement in Anatolia, dating back to 7,000 B.C., gives us the hints of skilled weavers. In this settlement one can find the evidence that the kilims were hung on walls. People of Anatolia used kilims as elaborately ornamented storage sacks called cuval have been made with brocading, as well as saddlebags, tent panels, hangings and covers. Home | Site Map | Contact | Security & Privacy | Customer Service | FAQ's About RugsRug & Kilim Store | Decoration & Gift Ideas | About Rugs & Kilims | Resources about Turkey
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