Carpet-weaving is one of the oldest types of applied arts which Uzbekistan is famous for.

Eastern carpets live long lives. As for actual pieces of art, they change owners, are inherited, bought for good money, get expensive within time and thought to be a gorgeous gift. The real silk carpet can live for several centuries watching how time changes in silence. Its colors do not fade but become brighter, its mate shine becomes golden within time.

In the East, from the ancient times' carpets were not an only simple functional piece of the interior creating a cosy atmosphere in a house but due to high price they were a sign of wealth and prosperity of a family and only rich people could afford them.

The largest collection of carpets amounting about 10,000 pieces could be found at Ark Fortress, a citadel of Emirs of Bukhara. The aristocracy did not fall behind the emirs and had carpets for all cases – for gifts and prayers, for own walls and floors. Marco Polo was astonished by Middle Asian carpets and said that the thinnest and most beautiful carpets were woven here.

Across the centuries, a carpet kept its symbolism and a sign of wealth and prosperity of a family and even today it is a gift to every just marries a couple in Uzbekistan.

Carpet is not just a beautiful design, it is a tradition, symbolism, and protection. When scrutinizing carpets, you can see all the peculiarities of world perception in different regions of Uzbekistan, favorite patters and sense of the ornament.

Large carpet weaving factories can be found in Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, Tashkent, and Fergana Valley, as well as household carpet weaving in various regions of Uzbekistan, with different color patterns characteristic of a particular region.

At Samarkand silk carpets factory traditional national patterns for carpets are protected with special care, their symbolism is close to people hearts with the classic red, blue and black shades. There are 400 women working at a factory. Carpet weaving is a traditional women’s work. This labor requires diligence and patience. It is required 1 or 1.5 years on average to make one carpet. Yet there is a technology according to which one line of 50 centimeters in width and 10 centimeters in length is being made for one year. Thus it cat takes 10 years to weave small carpet for praying sized 100×50 centimeters. Of course, such carpet can be done only by special order when paying is being made during carpet creation.

All threads are colored with natural dyes. The process can be watched in the inner yard of the factory where ready colored threads are hung on hand-rails. A guide will lead you from the very beginning – raw materials storage – to ready made pieces or art, and this will be a breathtaking story.

Carpets can be found in almost every house in Uzbekistan even if they are woven not from gorgeous silk thread but generally from wool and cotton but they are still decoration of a house and make it welcoming and comfortable. Depending on the length of nap, such carpets are divided into three types: napless named “palas”, with short naps – “gilam”, and with long naps – “djulkhirs”.

You can buy ready made carpet at a factory, or make an individual order. It will be sent you within one year. People say that if sitting or lying regularly on such carpet, it takes away all ailments. This will be your special and unique carpet with the sense of its pattern known only to you. It will not only be hanged on a wall or be put on some surface; it will live at your place.