www.uzbektourism.uz Margilan is a city (1999 pop 143,600) in Fergana Province in eastern Uzbekistan.
According to legend, Margilan was founded by Alexander the Great. On a lunch stop, he was given chicken (murgh) and bread (nan), from which the town took its name. More reliable records indicate that Margilan was an important stop on the Silk Road by the 9th century AD. Writing in the early 16th century, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Babur, mentioned that “the pomegranates and apricots are superb....the game in Margilan is good; white deer may be found nearby. Margilan merchants were key players in Central Asian commerce, and were said to be a law unto themselves during Soviet days, when Margilan was the heart of Uzbekistan’s black market. The town is also the location of Uzbekistan’s largest traditional silk factory, the Yodgorlik Silk Factory. Employing over 2,000 workers, everything is done in the traditional manner, for an annual output of some 250,000 square meters of highly premium silk cloth.
Visitors can see the whole silk making process by hand. Beautiful silk, cotton silk, Atlas, Adras etc. in tradional and modern design in a very good quality can be found in the shops.
The factory was founded in 1972 and it was the largest in this area with its volume of production and quality. From 1982 till 1993 it was owned as a public enterprise and in 2000 it was owned as a private enterprise "Yodgorlik".
In 1996 four of productive workers were sent to India to take courses in "using natural dyes" by the British Council. Now this experience has been used extensively throughout the factory since it was the best start up for dyers of this factory.
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