The Scandinavian region became an area of rug production in Europe at a relatively early period. Already by the ninth or tenth centuries, Islamic silk textiles found their way to Scandinavia with Viking merchants active in Russia and the Byzantine Empire. In the centuries that followed such trade ties introduced the knotted pile carpet from Ottoman Turkey. Indeed one of the earliest surviving Turkish carpets comes from the parish church at Marby, Sweden. From this early period onward, Scandinavians began to produce rugs for themselves, inspired initially by the imported products, and developing gradually into a distinctive northern idiom. Flatwoven tapestry rugs or coverlets became an established type, especially in Sweden, where they came to be known as “Rollakan.” Pile rugs or Ryiji (Rya), often with a long shaggy nap were produced in Norway and and Sweden, and above all Finland.
