Issyk-Kul region of the Kyrgyz Republic covers an area of 43.1 thousand square km, its population is about 450 thousand people. The region takes its name from Lake Issyk-Kul, located on its territory. The high mountain lake Issyk-Kul, called the "pearl of Kyrgyzstan", is one of the main tourist attractions of the country.


Not so long ago, about 80-90 years, the yurt was the main type of housing for the Kyrgyz people. And although at present almost the entire population of Kyrgyzstan lives in houses, the yurt has not lost its significance. It can still be found everywhere - in the capital, and along the roads of the whole republic, and in the nearby villages, and in the most remote jailoo.


Yurt, the portable dwelling of many nomadic peoples, appeared in the VIII-V centuries BC. The yurt is not just a home, but also a receptacle of all nomadic social and cultural life, including crafts traditions and technologies.


Kyrgyz craftsmen - producers of the yurts, mostly live in the villages of Issyk-Kul oblast: Kyzyl Tuu (Ton district), Barskoon (Dzhety Oguz district), Semenovka and Karohol Dobo (Issyk-Kul district), Kara-Kol (Tyup district ). In Kyzyl Tuu village with population of 1800 people, almost every family is engaged in the manufacture of yurts. The best-known masters in production of yurts: Zhylychy Sharshembiev, Orozobay Kenchenbaev, Sapar Ismailov, Onol Monoldorova and others.


For the Kyrgyz, the yurt is not just a house, it is a model of the universe, with its own laws and microcosm. Detail of the yurt - a tyunduk crowning the dome of the yurt, is depicted on the Kyrgyz flag.