Threads of the Silk Road: Margilan's Hand-Woven Silk

Where can you see real Silk Road silk being made by hand? In Margilan, in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley, where the Yodgorlik factory still runs the whole silk cycle by hand and the Margilan Crafts Development Centre safeguards ikat weaving under UNESCO's Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.

Listen first. The soft clack of wooden looms, the hiss of steam over vats where cocoons are softened, the murmur of a master explaining which root gives yellow and which shell gives purple. Then look up: lengths of atlas silk hang in the courtyard, their blurred zigzags of crimson, indigo and gold glowing in the autumn light. On the Silk Road, silk was the reason for the journey. In Margilan, it still is.

Margilan silk: the living heart of Uzbek ikat

According to UNESCO, the history of ikat atlas and adras making in the territory of modern-day Uzbekistan dates back to the Late Antique Period, and Margilan was historically the centre for these vivid, fine fabrics. Atlas is a pure silk; adras mixes silk with cotton. Both are made with the ikat technique, in which threads are tied and dyed before weaving so that the pattern appears as the loom works.

These crafts went through turbulent times during the Soviet period, and some handmade technologies were in danger of disappearing. In 2007 the local community launched the Crafts Development Centre to revive them through training, exhibitions, craft fairs, textile festivals and published manuals, while promoting natural materials and dyes. In 2017 UNESCO selected the centre's work for its Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.

Inside the Yodgorlik silk factory

Uzbekistan's official tourism portal describes Yodgorlik, opened in 1972, as the only factory in the country where the entire production cycle of silk products is carried out manually using traditional sericulture technologies. On a visit you follow the thread from start to finish: cocoons unwound in hot water, yarn spun and bound into patterns, skeins dipped in natural dyes, and finally the weaving itself.

The same source notes that more than 1,000 families in Margilan are engaged in handicrafts and that the city has old schools of pottery as well as sericulture. A newer craft centre, built in 2020 on the initiative of master Ibrahimjon Sultanov, employs around 600 craftsmen and produces about 200 types of satin and adras, carpets and sewn goods. Margilan also hosts the annual Atlas Bayrami silk festival.

For travellers, this is the rare kind of shopping that feels like a story: you meet the person, see the loom, and take home a scarf or a length of atlas that carries centuries of Silk Road craft.

Why 2026 is the year to add the Fergana Valley to your Uzbekistan tour

Uzbekistan is having a remarkable year. Official figures from the Tourism Committee show 10.3 million foreign visitors from January to September 2026, up 20.4% year on year. Arrivals from the United States rose 1.4 times, and visitor numbers from Germany and the United Kingdom grew by 25%. Many of these travellers see Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva; far fewer continue east to the Fergana Valley, which is exactly why Margilan still feels personal and unhurried.

Autumn and early winter suit a craft-focused trip: workshops are busy, the light is soft, and you can pair Margilan with Rishtan's potters and the palace city of Kokand before returning to Tashkent. Citizens of around 90 countries can visit Uzbekistan visa-free, so planning is mostly about choosing how many days to give the valley.

Add Margilan to your Silk Road tour with GoUzbekistan

GoUzbekistan is a licensed tour operator with offices in Tashkent and Bukhara, operating since 2007. We combine the Fergana Valley with the classic Silk Road cities, arrange workshop visits, guides, hotels and transport, and adapt the pace to your group. Browse An Unforgettable Journey through Uzbekistan or our Silk Road photo tour, then create your own custom tour or explore our tours. WhatsApp: +998 93 963-00-00 · info@gouzbekistan.com.

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