Sivas region carpets (Until 19th century)

The Turks were able to spread through the opened gates into the interior of Anatolia due to the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 and settled in the Sivas region. The Turks, who carried on their tradition and custom in the regions they colonized, brought the knotted carpet weaving, which they invented in Central Asia, to Anatolia, and they weaved very valuable carpets in the Sivas region. Marco Polo, who traveled to Anatolia in 1271, states in his book called The Travels of Marco Polo, that very precious carpets were woven in Sivas during the Seljuk period. Marco Polo says that "the most beautiful carpets in the world are woven in Konya, Kayseri, and Sivas". We started to work in order to find these beautiful carpets and to identify the carpets woven according to the traditions in the Sivas region, as well as to reveal the general characteristics of the carpets of the Sivas region. The carpets we identified in the Sivas region are chronologically belonging to the Seljuk, Principalities, and Ottoman Periods. It is seen that a carpet with a geometric interlocking star and octagonal composition, and a braided kufic-like border, woven in the Seljuk period, found in the Divriği Great Mosque and now is in The Foundation's Carpet Museum, is similar to the stone, wood, and tile ornaments in the mosque and other architecture in Sivas. Two carpets belonging to the period of the principalities were found in the Divriği Great Mosque and were taken to the Foundation's Carpet Museum. Patterns on a blue background are embroidered with black contours on the carpets that have dimensions close to a square. These carpets have octogram and octagonal compositions and have border patterns developed from Kufic. They are similar to the tiles with the eight-pointed star (star-cross) composition seen in the Seljuk and Principalities periods. There are octagons with knotted edges on a carpet from the early Ottoman period. It is one of the pioneers of Holbein I. group carpets, which started to be seen in the 15th century. Another sample of this period is the carpet with a large octagonal composition and a braided kufic-like border. This carpet is similar to Holbein type III and Bergama carpets. Many carpets woven between the 15th and 19th centuries in the Sivas region have been identified. Carpets with medallions in the center, found in Divriği Great Mosque and Sarkisla Great Mosque and now are in Istanbul Foundations Carpet Museum and Sivas Gök Madrasa Foundation Museum, are dated back to the 15th century. In the 15th-16th centuries, carpets called keyhole or octagonal extensions are present.. A variant of keyhole or octagonal extensions carpets are carpets where the inner border surrounding the carpet is indented from two short sides to the carpet flied in the form of an octagon, square, or rectangle. The carpets, identified with a central rhombus medallion in the Sarkisla Great Mosque, are dated back to the 16th century and suchlike have not been found in any other mosque, museum, or collection. Another group of carpets found in the Sarkisla Great Mosque and dated back to the 17th century have hexagons placed on offset axes. In one type of these carpets, there are hexagons connected with thin branches. Small octagonal motif carpets and zigzag patterned carpets, similar to which can be seen in Konya, are important examples of local carpets. Prayer rugs have an important place in Sivas carpets. Traditional Sivas prayer rugs have a wide mihrab niche, a thick and long neck, and an octagonal top of the mihrab. Weft, warp, and knots are woolen in the carpets of the Sivas region, which have very rich patterns. In some samples, camel wool was used, and in some of the small white motifs, cotton thread was used. Generally, red, orange, yellow, blue, dark blue, purple, green, and white colors are present. Technically, the Turkish knot is used in Sivas carpets. The Turkish offset knot can be seen on the carpets woven around Şarkışla.This knot type is a tradition that came from Turkistan to Anatolia. It is thought to have been practiced by the Salurs who settled around Sivas. Patterns on all carpets consist of geometric compositions. In addition to geometric compositions, there are fewer compositions such as floral, figured, with objects, and Kufic. As a result, traditional carpets were woven from the Seljuk period to the end of the Ottoman period in the Sivas region. Towards the end of the 19th century, untraditional single-knotted Persian-influenced carpets were produced.