Kilims: A Cultural Heritage

Weaving art began in ancient times. Basically, it is composed of the union of horizontal and vertical cord groups in a right angle and together becoming a fabric. The first examples are known in the history of weaving art as "the technique of net knitting" and "the technique of the knot".

The technique of net knitting has been seen and used in every society from the most uncivilised the most modern. The first examples of this technique began with nets which were knitted with the help of animal bones in uncivilised societies and which spread throughout the world. The technique of the knot has been known since ancient Greece and Egypt and has been used since the Bronze Age.

The invention of weaving has served various needs of human beings other than for clothing. For instance, floor coverings used against the coldness of the ground of living spaces have had an important position in history.

The fibres of plants and bulrushes gave way to the use of wool in the 800's B.C., as the people of the Near East learned how to tame wild animals.

Weavings, which were thought to decorate the floors and the walls of religious places only, are now understood to have been used in various areas, in private homes and in normal life, and were discovered from excavations which were made in places that go back to 6000 B.C.

Of special importance are the pieces comprised of wool and cotton weavings, with geometrical patterns belonging to 700 B.C. and which were found in Anatolia, Gordion knot and the flat weavings which were found in Pazirik in 1947, and which belong to the centuries 5-1 B.C.

A new page opened in the Anatolian kilim art when the Turks arrived. Books about travels and journeys made in the areas that the Turkish tribes had lived in showed that carpets, kilims and other weavings had a great importance in daily social life.

The Turkish peoples who had lived in Asia as clans and tribes had brought their specialities to Turkey, as well. Their major occupation was cattle-breeding and their economy was based on animals and the wool that was gained from those animals.

The products of weavings began to gain some aesthetic aims apart from serving specific needs; they gained some symbols of motifs and colours which were used to distinguish one clan or tribe from the other, such as clothes in various styles and also different stamps marked on their animals.

The variety of these motifs were related to the living conditions of the places they had lived in as well as the places they had come from and what they had seen during their migration. The dyes that were produced from plants, and the wool that was taken from animals, were related to the existing and available vegetation.

The kilims and other weavings that were made for the needs of the weavers and their families were different from the carpets that were made and used for the purposes of trade, although they had been used in the same environment.

This fact enabled kilim and flat weaving types to survive as a real folk art without being deformed, but as they were viewed as products to be used in everyday life proper preservation conditions could not be achieved. For this reason, the act of carpet and kilim devotion to the mosques, which was generally seen in the Ottoman period, has been very important in terms of kilim art.

The kilims, which were previously produced to answer the needs of families and societies, have become a focal point in terms of trade nowadays. The reason for this is the increasing demand for new products as well as changes in the views and interests of societies.

Related pictures (click to enlarge)