Turkmen carpet

Turkmen carpets are known for their deep red ground and repeated geometric guls. Each tribe — Teke, Yomut, Salyr, Saryk, Ersari — had its own gul, so a carpet revealed who had woven it.

Carpets covered yurt floors, hung as door curtains and were made into bags and animal trappings; weaving is mainly women's work, passed from mother to daughter. The guls of five tribes appear on Turkmenistan's flag.

The Turkmen Carpet Museum in Ashgabat holds the largest collection of Turkmen carpets, including a 301 m² carpet woven in 2001 that Guinness recognises as the largest hand-woven carpet. UNESCO inscribed Turkmen carpet-making in 2019.