TRANSYLVANIAN RUG

also called Siebenbrger rug any of the large numbers of floor coverings found in the churches of Transylvania (part of Romania), to which they had been donated by pious families. Some of these rugs are of Turkish manufacture, survivals of a massive importation centuries ago. Turkey is generally assumed to be the source of all Transylvanian carpets, but certain similarities of technique, weight, and dye range suggest that most have been made in the same neighbourhood, possibly in Transylvania itself or in the European Turkey of the 17th and 18th centuries. The question remains unsettled. Prevalent designs include bird rugs, Lotto carpets, carpets with arches at both ends of the field, column Ldik, and varied prayer-rug forms commonly ascribed to Ghiordes, Melas, or Konya carpets. All of these kinds of Transylvanian rugs have been counterfeited in large numbers.