Ariana Rug - 239x174 cm

Ariana is the old name for Afghanistan and parts of Persia, Beluchistan and Central Asia. This is an area with an old weaving tradition. The name has since been given to carpets woven by a collection of nomadic Turkoman refugees from Central Asia and Afghanistan, descendants of Mogul and Turkic tribes. These people left Uzbekistan and Turmenistan in 1920 to avoid Sovietization and settlement and settled near Andkhuy and Daulatabad in northern Afghanistan. In the early 1980s they walked across the mountains of Afghanistan to seek political refuge in the tribally administered Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. Weaving takes place in small workshops and homes in Turkoman communities.