Krolevets weaving
The tradition of hand pattern weaving (perebir technique) of the town of Krolevets in Sumy Oblast, best known for the red-and-white Krolevets rushnyk.
Krolevets weaving is done by hand on wooden looms in the perebir (pick-up) technique combined with shaft-and-shuttle weaving. The most characteristic product is the rushnyk, a ritual towel: a red pattern on a white ground, with stylised ornament arranged in horizontal bands of varying width. These towels were used in rites.
In 1922 the Vidrodzhennia art-weaving artel was founded in Krolevets. In 1960 the artel was reorganised into an art-weaving factory, and since 2008 it has been the municipal enterprise Krolevets Art Weaving. More than 60 kinds of goods were woven by hand there: rushnyks, tablecloths, bedspreads, wall panels, curtains, napkins and clothing.
«Krolevets perebir weaving» was entered on Ukraine's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012, among the first elements. It is not on a UNESCO list. A Krolevets rushnyk is woven, not embroidered: the pattern is part of the cloth itself.
