I was wondering if anyone of Russian descent (or really anyone in general) can confirm to me whether this article about why Russians hang luxury rugs from their walls is accurate. I have a friend who’s obsessed with it as some humorous cultural fad but when I asked him to explain it’s history to me, he wasn’t making much sense (so I think he was just making stuff up in an attempt to not sound ignorant).
Dunno, but people in the Middle East and Europe have been hanging carpets on walls for 1000s of years. Maybe in China also.
If you’ve spring 6 months income on a luxury rug you don’t want people walking on it.
I don’t know anything about the history of Russian interior decoration specifically, but it certainly isn’t unheard-of to hang expensive finely worked rugs on walls as well as, or instead of, putting them on the floor. Nor is the practice usually associated with humble origins and cheap drafty houses. (ETA: as Claverhouse pointed out six minutes before I did, curse him. ;))
An article on a special type of Serbian rug weaving technique known as Pirot weaving:
So my guess would be that modern Russian people hang fancy carpets on walls because many people east of western Europe have always hung fancy carpets on walls. Not as a special legacy of their humble Soviet-era origins or any claptrap like that.
Carpets would used as insulation to keep the cold out, there is nothing strange about that . My dad was from Russia but his family were too poor to have carpets. When dad was able to buy a house in USA he brought a very expensive carpet and used it on the floor.
If you tour any of the older European castles, stately homes, and palaces from about the middle ages(or earlier) to about the 1700’s, they typically hung “tapestries” on the walls. It seems to me it originated as a means of heat an sound insulation in rock castles before finished walls were a thing. Some of them are incredibly large and ornate, but some dyes faded over the years. (The famous picture of the unicorn is a medieval tapestry. The Hunt of the Unicorn - Wikipedia )
Not sure what the difference would be between hanging a carpet and a tapestry. These tapestries are woven thick enough to pass for carpets.
There are many possible explanations why Russians did that:
- for sound insulation
- to protect from cold
- they always prepared a dowry for their children and the easiest way was to hang the carpets on the walls
- to cover up cracks in the walls
Even the guesses seem on the money, so thanks for the response, everyone! No rugs in my house so I can say that I am firmly removed from rug culture, but this was enlightening. When I was visiting Brighton last winter, a friend of mine was using tapestries all over his walls and I actually thought it looked nice. shrug