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 Pa