On a rainy day, an umbrella opens over us with a quiet rustle, and with it millennia. Yes, our humble umbrella has a very long history. It is difficult to establish with accuracy how old he is - whether two thousand, or even more. In any case, in the East, the umbrella was known long before our era.
Instruction manual
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No one knows when a person came up with the idea to come up with this device. According to legends, many, many centuries ago, a Chinese man who loved his wife very much, invented for her a "roof that is always with her." It is not known whether this is true or not, but images of Chinese mandarins with umbrellas are present in ancient drawings dating from the 10th century BC.
In ancient Egypt, too, had their own umbrellas, and the pharaohs used them exclusively. It is interesting that initially the umbrella was used exclusively for protection from the sun, and only after many, many centuries the idea came to people to use it as protection against rain and wind.
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Only at the beginning of the XVIII century, the umbrella began to be used to protect from rain. Attempts to make the umbrella as small as possible have always been made and the umbrella has become folding, however, when folded, it was about 30 cm.
Masters working on wood, bones, stone staged competitions, who better decorate the handle of the umbrella. There were fad umbrellas, witty rather than useful. For example, an umbrella hat: water collected in huge curved fields and drained through a special drain. Lightning rod umbrella: a wire was attached to it, which was supposed to protect the traveler from the lightning caught by a thunderstorm. Umbrella glasses, a travel bag umbrella, an umbrella with a box for a small mirror, powder and perfume. A lot of umbrellas, which with the click of a button turned into different useful things.
Umbrellas appeared in Russia later - only in the middle of the 18th century and, like most fashionable novelties, were exported from Paris. In those days, in France, rain umbrellas were still clumsy and weighed at least two kilograms, so walking with them was quite difficult, but the sun was in full bloom: it was becoming more beautiful, more elegant, more cunning.
Elegant lace bauble umbrellas with flounces and bows served the most sophisticated coquetry. Interestingly, the very principle of the design of the umbrella, folding knitting needles, between which the fabric is stretched, for a thousand years, in general, has not undergone significant changes. At first, knitting needles were made of bamboo, wood, ivory, and now metal. That’s the whole difference.
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Nowadays, in obedience to fashion, umbrellas become either large or small, fold up to pocket sizes or stretch out in the shape of a cane. Modern umbrellas are no longer made from silk or leather, but from synthetic materials: Bologna, a special transparent film. Traditional black cotton umbrellas with impregnation are still popular, only now they have become part of the men's wardrobe. Women prefer brighter colors.
