Representatives of many nationalities - Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Turks, Mongols, are still using yurts to this day. When asked what the yurt is made of, each of them can answer in his own way. Somewhere it is made from felted camel hair, and somewhere, sheep wool is taken as the basis.
Such housing seems unreliable, rather cold to people who are not dedicated to the intricacies of what the yurt is made of, and they sincerely do not understand how nomads can live in them permanently, in any weather and at any time of the year. In fact, a yurt is a lightweight portable house with unique performance characteristics. In summer it is cool, even if it is installed in the sun, and in winter it is warm and comfortable even in the most severe frosts.
What is a yurt?
When and by whom the first yurt was built is not known for certain. Scientists can only assume that the current yurt is something similar to the housing of the Andronovites that existed in the 11-10 centuries BC. There is no detailed description of constructions of those times; yurts with the following characteristics are available to contemporaries:
- light and easy to assemble and disassemble,
- having a low specific gravity,
- comfortable for living at any time of the year,
- consisting of a wooden base and felt coating,
- with high heat and sound insulation properties.
Different nationalities have different yurt arrangements - somewhere they are made with two swing doors made of wood, somewhere the entrance to the housing closes the canopy. There are differences in the size of the structure. Kazakhs make yurts lower than Kyrgyz because of the climate and the constant winds. But the interior decoration of the yurt is always rich and unusually beautiful, with a typical national decor, a lot of woven carpets and pillows, similar to the usual sofa “little thoughts” for us.
