Oriental Rugs Glossary

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Armenia

Armenia is located in the central highland between Turkey, the former Soviet Union and Iran with the 17,000 ft high Ararat mountain as their center. The capital of Armenia is Eriwan. Armenia, once a significant kingdom, is no longer an independent state as a whole. In general, parts of Mesopotamia, Euphrat, Tigris, the Tura, Trans Caucasia and the highlands of the Arax and the Kura are considered to belong to the area of Armenia. The Eastern part of Armenia belonged to the Armenian Soviet Republic of the USSR, since the end of WW1. Approximately 2 million Armenians used to live there. Armenian as well as Caucasian carpet designs have been made here under the name/provenance of "Eriwan". In terms of dyeing wool, dyeing cloths and making dyes in general their achievements have been of such significance that they were already mentioned by Herodot in the 5th cent. B.C. The Armenian art of making carpets had a major impact on carpet making towards the west in Anatolia, especially regarding the precision of the work and the designs. Armenian artists mainly used the Turkish knot.