Conservation and valorization of heritage ethnographic textiles

Abstract

The textiles make up a fragile heritage, continuously exposed to erosion through the natural aging of the fibres, environmental conditions and human actions. The aim of the MYTHOS project is the development of textiles from natural fibers (flax and hemp) which are biologically and technologically similar to the textiles found in heritage collections. A multidisciplinary research, involving specialists in ethnography, physics, molecular biology, chemistry and textile industry started with the analysis of the ethnographic textiles found in the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant’s collection and a study of the traditional methods of cultivation and processing of flax and hemp. The textiles obtained as a result, similar to the heritage textiles, will be tested in restoration work, the results of this project seeking to benefit all the cultural organizations which hold collections of bast fibre textiles.