Mongolia - Yurt/Ger
	Mongolian gers are still entirely hand-built. The timber for the framework is mostly Siberian larch from the northern taiga forests and is all hand-hewn with axes. The lattice walls (6 in this case) are expanded when the ger is erected and collapsed when it is taken down and moved. These have been bent into a slight curve which gives the ger a pleasant rounded look. If the lattice pieces are straight, the profile is slightly concave. The overlapping pieces have been joined with knotted rawhide. The walls are lashed together with horsehair rope where they join and one long rope is tied around the top of the walls and anchored to the door frame. (In these pictures, the bottom two ropes were put on temporarily to help to shape the walls and later removed.) Then the two central support posts are lashed to the roof wheel (the toono) when it is on the ground and it is hoisted into place. The 86 roof poles are then put into the holes in the toono and radiate out to the lattice walls where loops in the end of the poles are twisted around the lattice tops to make the structure stable. The door frame and door, poles, and toono are all painted an orange red with lovely traditional designs. Next the felt walls are put into place in sections and tied to the framework. The felt for these is the highest grade of clean white felt that is very dense and of uniform thickness - 1/2 " to 3/4". This is the type of felt used on the best gers in Mongolia. For the roof felt, there are two large half circle sections of smaller pieces sewn together that overlap the sides. Each ger comes with two layers of wall & roof felt, enough insulation for winters anywhere in the U.S. - a small woodstove will keep it quite toasty. Finally a light canvas cover with blue stitched designs is placed over the felt (the cover is not always used in Mongolia) and three long ropes are tied tightly around the outside of the cover, attaching to the door frame. A large rectangular piece of felt covered with canvas is fastened over the top for a toono cover. This has four long ropes attached so that one can easily open and adjust it from the ground. Gers are remarkably sophisticated pieces of engineering, capable of surviving ferocious winters in snug comfort and pleasant in hot summers. The ger inside is surprisingly spacious and light. In Central Asia a few million people still live contentedly in gers, and today in Europe and America they are used as homes, meditation retreats, guest houses and artists' studios to name only some of their possibilities.
	6-wall ger: diameter - 20' height - 9'3" in center door height (top of frame) 55"	6-wall (pictured) $7900 Call for Information on a 5-wall transportation and handling- not included