Carpet drawings of the Soviet Union and what is their meaning

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Every person who was born and raised in the Soviet Union remembers the carpets on the walls with intricate pictures depicted on them. In these drawings, if you look closely, you can see the faces and figures of people, birds and animals, plants. In the USSR, almost all houses and apartments had similar carpets. Therefore, all children of that time periodically studied the ornaments depicted on them, looking for fairy-tale characters.

Many probably wondered who invented all these patterns and whether they matter.

Where did carpet designs come from and what is their meaning?

The bulk of the Soviet people bought carpet products, which went on sale in stores. They were "hunted" for. Even inexpensive synthetic products were sorted out. It was quite problematic to get at least some option at that time. But some citizens were given privileges. They even had a special catalog at their disposal. It was possible to choose and order a product made by craftsmen from the Soviet republics by hand, as well as purchase a carpet in other countries.

The catalog was released by the organization Vneshposyltorg. Orders could be made here only for checks (a form of payment for specialists who worked abroad). An impressive selection of carpet ornaments was published in the catalog, their name was also indicated the country where the product was made.

Thus, our compatriots had the opportunity to pick up carpets from Azerbaijan with such names as "Karabakh", "Kazakh", "Cuba". If foreign products were more attracted, the opportunity to purchase a product from the GDR or Bulgaria was provided.

Models offered by machine and hand made, to choose from. Of course, only a few had the opportunity to please themselves with such a purchase. Ordinary Soviet citizens did not have access to this catalog, so they bought whatever they came across. Naturally, no one even thought about what kind of drawing was there, whether it had any meaning or not. In the catalog, consumers were offered a small description, from which it was possible to understand where these drawings came from and what they symbolize.

For example, if we take the description of carpets woven in Armenia, it says that the products “Ijevan” and “Yerevan” were created as a result of a thorough study of Armenian traditional miniatures. The main motive here is the lotus flower. The petals of the plant depicted stylized stems and buds, and even animals.

The situation was different with the Turkmen carpet products. They were decorated with different rhombuses with the interesting name "gel". We conclude that all images, without exception, were traditional. They were not invented by designers in the Soviet Union. The only thing that could have been the drawings and ornaments taken as a basis were slightly supplemented, processed and modified.

National ornaments formed the basis of not only hand-made carpets, but also machine models. Therefore, the "message" was received even by those Soviet citizens who had an unnatural, artificial version.

There were also other designs with their own hidden meaning, actively used in carpets of the times of the USSR. Often in the center was the so-called "medallion" symbolizing the sun.

It is interesting!By the way, the motive was Iranian from the very beginning. In the Soviet Union, he was simply taken, like many others, into service.

But that's not all. On the products one could observe lines that had no beginning and end, which curled in all directions. They also have their own name - "eslim". This motive is the property of the Persians. In addition, strict geometry also denoted several "veiled" living creatures and plants. Therefore, when Soviet people, peering into the product for a long time, saw amazing animals, birds, flowers there, it was not at all a figment of their imagination. Most likely, they really were there.