The World’s Oldest Known Rug Few objects collapse time the way a great rug can. Colors, knots, and borders become a language, carrying memory across centuries. Among all historic carpets, one stands apart as a singular messenger from deep antiquity: the Pazyryk Carpet —the oldest nearly intact pile rug known to humankind, preserved in ice for over two millennia and now housed in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Hermitage Museum A frozen masterpiece from the Altai The P