Turkmen leader applauds UN recognition for recognizing carpets as cultural heritage

Turkmenistan's leader on Tuesday hailed as "historic" the announcement that its traditional hand-woven carpets have been recognized as global cultural heritage by the United Nations. The Central Asian country's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said it was "evidence of world recognition of our marvelous carpets" and will help promote them abroad.

The centuries-old family tradition was added to UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list this month. Medieval Italian merchant and traveler Marco Polo is among the best-known admirers.

He wrote that "the finest and most beautiful carpets in the world are made here". Nowadays Turkmen carpets are a permanent feature in pompous state ceremonies, whether during a railway opening in the middle of the desert or public festivities in the capital Ashgabat.

They also have their own state holiday on the last weekend in May and feature on the national flag. Carpet weaving is championed in a book authored by all-powerful Berdymukhamedov called "Heavenly Beauty" in which he calls the carpet "an eternal hymn to life".

The national carpet museum contains more than 2,000 rugs, many from centuries past and one supersized version woven in 2001 by 40 weavers. The 14-by-20 meter (46-by-60 feet) carpet, which weighs 1.5 tons, scored the country a Guinness World Record, although that is now held by a carpet woven in Iran.

Turkmen carpets are weaved with the wool of the locally bred Sardzhin sheep and the weavers are always women, the craft being passed through generations. A four-square-meter carpet can take several months to make, because of the density of the carpets -- a single square meter can consist of up to 400,000 knots.

Prices for wool carpets are around $115 (103 euros) per square meter, while a silk carpet can cost double. Typically patterns reflect nomadic tribal art and draw on the elements and various types of animals.

Despite cultural pressure on young girls to take up the tradition, there is room once they become weavers to impose something of themselves onto these future family heirlooms. As an old Turkmen saying goes, "spread your carpet and I will read your soul".