tatar boots – Page 2 – Unique Leather Mosaic of the Tatars

The oldest (found so far) leather sandals were worn 6000 years ago! They were discovered in Cave of Warrior in Judean Desert in 1993.

The oldest all-foot covered leather soft shoe was found in the cave of Armenian Highlands in 2008.

The exceptional discovery was made by Soviet archeologists in 1947 in Pazyryk kurgans of Altai Mountains (south of modern city of Novosibirsk in Russian Federation), when the oldest ornamented leather boots were excavated from the burrows of Scythian nomadic tribes that had been waiting to be found for over 2300 years. All three recovered boots are decorated with intricate patterns and ornaments that bore sacred meaning for the owner.

The Tatar boots tradition is keeping the spirit and the leather craftsmanship of the nomadic heritage.

“Warrior Sandals”	“Armenian Incognito”	“Otze the Iceman”	“Cave Moccasin”	“Salt Man”	“Siberian Beauty”	“Roman Fort Lady”	“Turkic Seamstress”
Isarel Antiquities Authority	Article in Scientific Journal	South Tyrol Museum of Archeology	Article in Science Journal	Zanjan Archeology Museum	Hermitage Museum	Saalburg Museum	National Museum of Mongolia

When you google “boot”, tons of images of different boots come up: fancy, classy, ugly, modern, in all shapes and colors. But the boots that are created using unique leather mosaic technique do not… It can be because the boots, that this website is dedicated to, belong to a different category that embodies a unique collaboration of footwear and art.

shchiteqler made by Sahtian

This exceptional footwear category is shchiteq (kauly run shchigelgen iteq – full version). The word shchiteq (“shch” is pronounced as in “Chicago“ or “c” in “appreciate“) comes from the Tatar language word читек (with pronunciation as “щитэк”, Russified versions of “ичиг”, “ичитыг” are also in use) is an abbreviation of чигелгән итек (shchigelgen iteq). It literally means a “decorated/ embroidered boot”.

A shchiteq is made from soft colored leather and ornamented with the Tatar-inspired cutout designs that are stitched together by hands from the inside”. The technique is unique and sophisticated that no other ethnic people but the Tatars have mastered it over the centuries. Shchitekler (“ler” is for plural form in Tatar language) are popular in Tatarstan, Russia, and highly treasured by their owners because one can “conquer the world” in them. The word читек is googalabe. But shchiteq is not yet… It will be wonderful if the association of boot with shchiteq becomes recognizable, so acknowledgement and due credits are offered to the Tatar people who had originated and mastered the unique craft of Tatar Leather Mosaic and has been working hard for centuries to keep it alive.