The Kirghizians possess a rich and unique cultural legacy created throughout the centuries by nomadic herdsmen who inhabited the foothills of the Tien Shan and Altai mountain ranges. This land's picturesque scenery played an important role in the formation of the ornamentation and imagery in Kirghiz folk art. The rugged contours of mountain peaks, the smooth foothills, and the sun-drenched expanses of the steppes are still embodied in Kirghiz ornamental art with its characteristic unhurried rhythm and economy of color. The yurta tents of Kirghiz auls stood like rows of mounds on the steppes or mountain pastures. Such dwellings had a sound design, each element of which had evolved over centuries. Even its hemispheric shape, reminiscent of an object from outer space, provides one of the sturdiest structures known to men. 
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