Hereke Carpet Village

The imperial carpet factory at Hereke was founded in 1843 to supply the Ottoman palaces, and what it produced is still the benchmark for silk carpet weaving: pieces in silk and sometimes gold and silver thread, at knot densities running into the hundreds per square centimetre, with designs drawn from Ottoman court patterns and from Persian and European sources. Carpets from here went into Dolmabahçe and Beylerbeyi and were sent as state gifts, which is why they turn up in palaces across Europe. The factory building on the shore survives, and weaving continues in the town on a much smaller scale in family workshops and a handful of firms, where visitors can watch women knotting at the loom - a fine Hereke silk carpet can take a weaver years. Showrooms sell, and prices reflect the labour. The name is used loosely in the trade, so a "Hereke" carpet bought elsewhere is often nothing of the kind.

What to look for

• The looms - weavers knotting silk at very fine densities.
• The old factory - the imperial workshop building on the shore.
• The showrooms - finished carpets and the price they carry.
• The gulf setting - the İzmit shore behind the town.

When to go

Year-round, on weekdays during working hours - workshops keep ordinary hours and close at weekends.

Before you go

Genuine Hereke silk is extremely expensive and the name is widely misused - buy only with documentation, and know that a demonstration is a sales process. The historic factory is not a museum with public access.

Nearby

İzmit is east along the gulf; Istanbul is about an hour and a half west.