Audio tour The "Islamic East" Hall

This hall presents art of the Islamic East.

Your attention will be drawn to a large display case, in which thin silver belts, dagger scabbards, horse trappings, vessels for tea and water, and hookahs are located.

Visitors will be greatly interested in the silver jewellery with turquoise and carnelian insertions which are inalienable parts of Turkmenistan women’s national costume. Silver, decorative stones, carnelian and turquoise have served as basic materials for jewellery in Central Asia since olden times. Turkmen adornments are usually solemn and monumental. They are massive, richly ornamented, and have many small, exquisite pendants. Women's jewellery is very varied: for head, chest, and plaits. Some of them are presented in the Museum collections. Gupba, a silver dome, is a traditional decoration for girl’s skullcaps. Gulyaka is a round collar button with an openwork pattern in the form of a floral rosette. Bukaw is only known among Turkmen. It is a festive neck decoration in the form of a flat hooped plate with a stylized floral pattern, which carries an openwork rosette with a number of pendants.

The fairy-tale atmosphere of the hall is accentuated by numerous oriental carpets. Despite their diversity, carpets from Persia, as Iran was called in ancient times, are remarkable for their bright colours and intricate floral ornaments, which come from the ancient image of the "blooming garden".

Here you see the museum's nineteenth century Persian carpet which represents a variant of this ancient subject – the blooming tree with birds singing on its branches and a babbling brook. The carpet is woven from woollen yarn using intricate technical methods and has a wide range of colours - about 20 shades in all.