# Russians Hanging Carpets on the Walls **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russians-hanging-carpets-on-the-walls/753108 "2016-04-25T18:07:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MegaNazz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@MegaNazz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaNazz)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russians-hanging-carpets-on-the-walls/753108/1 "2016-04-25T18:07:51Z")
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](http://mehraban.com/newsletter/the-enigmatic-russian-trend-of-hanging-rugs-from-walls/) 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). ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russians-hanging-carpets-on-the-walls/753108/2 "2016-04-25T18:36:24Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russians-hanging-carpets-on-the-walls/753108/3 "2016-04-25T18:42:59Z")
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. ;)) [From a 1910 novel:](https://books.google.com/books?id=4qwgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA114) > [@](#): > > On the floor were priceless Persian silk rugs of a texture to drive a connoisseur wild with delight, but far too costly and precious to be walked on. In a sultan’s palace they would have graced the walls, but that which an Eastern monarch has the taste to respect the average American millionaire spreads beneath his feet. [An article on a special type of Serbian rug weaving technique known as Pirot weaving:](http://ann.az/en/the-ancient-craft-of-pirot-weaving/#.Vx5kVodU8zI) > [@](#): > > In the backroom of a small house in Pirot in southeastern Serbia, a handful of women are fighting to keep an ancient craft alive. […] > > Once celebrated throughout Europe for their beauty, Pirot carpets graced the walls and floors of Serbian royal palaces, as well homes of the urban elite. 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. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russians-hanging-carpets-on-the-walls/753108/4 "2016-04-25T19:06:03Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russians-hanging-carpets-on-the-walls/753108/5 "2016-04-25T19:20:02Z")
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_of_the_Unicorn) ) Not sure what the difference would be between hanging a carpet and a tapestry. These tapestries are woven thick enough to pass for carpets. ---
**Author:** ![AnnaBethBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5daacb/32.png) [@AnnaBethBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnnaBethBeth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russians-hanging-carpets-on-the-walls/753108/6 "2016-04-26T13:52:17Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![MegaNazz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@MegaNazz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaNazz)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russians-hanging-carpets-on-the-walls/753108/7 "2016-04-26T16:35:04Z")
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_