Dome sweet dome: This tiny village makes most of Kyrgyzstan’s yurts

Some 1,800 people live in Kyzyl Tuu, Kyrgyzstan, on just three long, unpaved streets. By day, the streets are all but deserted. Most adult villagers are at home working by hand on some part of a yurt, a felt-covered tent used by the nomadic peoples of Central Asia. The World Crafts Council has designated the Issyk-Kul region as the World Craft City for Yurts, but most of Kyrgyzstan’s yurt production is concentrated in tiny Kyzyl Tuu.

In the large courtyard of his home on the main street, Kurmanbek Achemob is shaping a wooden pole that will form the skeleton of a yurt. “My father taught me the trade when I was a child,” the third-generation yurt-maker says proudly. He works with his wife, Nazira, and hopes that at least one of their three sons will continue the family tradition. It takes the couple about two months to make one yurt.

Ms. Achemob is at a loom weaving the ormok, the tension bands made with sheep’s wool that will hold the skeleton and the felt covering. About 200 meters (656 feet) of the wool is needed for a single yurt, she explains.

The Kyrgyz have been seminomadic for centuries, and the yurt – whose rooftop, or tyunduk, is featured on the country’s flag – is the key element in maintaining this way of life. Almost all Kyrgyz families now live in houses, but for the warmer months, many transport their yurts and their grazing animals to the mountains.

Mirlan Kasmaliev and his wife, Cholpon, set up their three yurts each May at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters by Kol Ukok, a small lake. This is the highlight of their 7-year-old son’s life. “It is the best time of the year for him, when he finishes school and can go up the mountain to live in the yurts,” Ms. Kasmaliev says.

A yurt can last 100 years, Mr. Kasmaliev notes. The family’s yurts “are still the ones my parents used, although there is always some maintenance to be done,” he adds. “Every five years or so, we change the felt cover to make them as good as new.”

Bolot Mukaeb, a first-generation yurt-maker, says it is a tradition to build a yurt when a child is born. Weddings, funerals, and other occasions also are marked in yurts. “Although cheaper Chinese yurts made of synthetic fabric and metal have entered the market, many people still prefer the traditional ones handmade by families like us,” Mr. Mukaeb says.

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