Hereke Silk Weaving and Carpet Factory

This imperial textile works was founded in 1843 by order of Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid in the small coastal town of Hereke, on the northern shore of Izmit Bay, to supply silk fabrics, upholstery and curtains exclusively for the Ottoman court. Carpet production began later, in 1891, under Sultan Abdülhamid II, when master weavers were brought in from the Anatolian weaving towns of Sivas, Ladik and Manisa to train local workshops. Over the following decades Hereke became internationally celebrated for the fineness of its silk and wool carpets, earning awards at world exhibitions in Paris, London, Vienna, Lyon, Brussels and Turin. The factory still operates today under Turkey's Grand National Assembly as a working 'museum factory,' continuing to produce fine textiles for state buildings. A small on-site museum, closed on weekends, displays historic fabric samples from the factory's long production history, though its famous carpets themselves are mostly kept elsewhere.