Margilan celebrated its 2,000th anniversary in 2007 under the auspices of UNESCO. The city's first reliable written mention dates to Arab chronicles of the tenth century, where it appears as "Marginon" — already noted as a craft and trade center. By the seventh and eighth centuries, Margilan had mastered silkworm cultivation and was producing silk that competed with Chinese goods in the markets of Kashgar, Baghdad, Khorasan, and, eventually, Europe. The ikat-weaving technique it developed — known locally as *abr* ("cloud" in Persian), for the way resist-dyed warp threads produce blurred, feathered patterns in the finished cloth — was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017.
The Yodgorlik Silk Factory (the name means "heritage" or "memory" in Uzbek) was founded in 1972 and remains the best place in Uzbekistan to see the full production sequence from raw material to finished cloth. The factory employs around 450 people and produces approximately 6,000 meters of fabric per month, though the emphasis here is on hand production rather than industrial volume. A factory tour follows the complete process: cocoons are boiled in large vats to loosen the silk thread; threads are wound onto reels by hand; bundles of warp thread are bound in the resist-pattern before dyeing (this binding — not the dyeing itself — is what "ikat" refers to); threads are then loaded onto hand-operated looms; and weavers produce the finished khan-atlas silk with its characteristic color transitions. The sound of the weaving hall — shuttle-clack of multiple looms operating simultaneously — is the defining sensory impression. Tours run most days, but arrive early (before 9am) to see all stages of production active; some processes stop mid-morning. The on-site shop sells finished cloth by the meter, scarves, and robes directly from production.
Alongside Yodgorlik, Margilan has a parallel economy of private master workshops — ustalar — operating in family compounds across the city. These workshops produce smaller quantities at higher quality, often reviving specific regional patterns. Visits can be arranged through local guides or guesthouses; the Ikat House guesthouse in central Margilan is well-positioned to facilitate introductions. The Said Ahmad-Khoja Madrasah, a nineteenth-century building in the old town, now houses carpet and silk craftspeople in its courtyard cells. The Kumtepa Bazaar, held on Sundays and Thursdays, is the largest market in the Fergana Valley — a genuine agricultural and textile market primarily serving local buyers, not visitors.
One practical note on purchasing: machine-woven ikat, sold throughout Uzbekistan's tourist bazaars, is significantly cheaper than hand-woven work and visually similar at a glance. Genuine hand-woven khan-atlas has an irregular texture when examined closely, as no two picks of the shuttle are identical. Buying directly in Margilan — from Yodgorlik or from a workshop — removes most of the ambiguity.
Getting there: Margilan has its own railway station on the Tashkent–Andijan line. From Tashkent, journey time is approximately four to five hours depending on service. From Fergana city (the regional administrative center), Margilan is 15–18 km by road, approximately 30 minutes by shared taxi. From Kokand, shared taxi takes around one hour.
Best time to visit: April–June and September–October. The valley is green, the mulberry trees — the silkworm's food supply — are in leaf from spring through summer, and silk production is at full capacity.