Musée des Tissus (Silk Museum)
Musée des Tissus (Silk Museum) features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Lyon. Give it roughly ~90 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type museum
- Suggested visit ~90 min
- Lyon Lyon guide
About Musée des Tissus (Silk Museum)
The world's finest textile collection, housed in an 18th-century palace in the Presqu'île, tracing 4,500 years of fabric production from ancient Egypt through Lyon's silk glory to contemporary fashion.
The Musée des Tissus in Lyon is one of the world's great specialist museums, holding what is considered the finest collection of textiles anywhere on the planet. Founded in 1856 to support and inspire Lyon's silk-weaving industry, then at its global commercial peak, the museum was established in the Hotel de Villeroy, an 18th-century palace on the Rue de la Charité, and today holds over 2.5 million textile items spanning 4,500 years of production, from ancient Coptic Egyptian fabrics to contemporary haute couture. The collection's particular strength is in silk: Lyonnais silks from the 17th-19th centuries, the great period of Lyon's commercial dominance of the European silk market, are represented in extraordinary depth and quality, with examples of every technique from plain weaving to the most complex lampas and brocaded velvets. The museum also holds outstanding collections of Far Eastern textiles, Islamic fabrics, medieval European embroideries, Aubusson tapestries, and 20th-century fashion garments. The adjacent Musée des Arts Décoratifs, housed in the same building, contains remarkable French decorative arts.
Did you know? The Musée des Tissus holds over 2.5 million textile items, but can only display a tiny fraction at any time, the bulk of the collection is held in climate-controlled storage and is accessible to researchers.
How long is a visit to Musée des Tissus (Silk Museum)?
Set aside roughly ~90 min for Musée des Tissus (Silk Museum). That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Musée des Tissus (Silk Museum) worth your time?
Musée des Tissus (Silk Museum) is among the 25 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Lyon, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Lyon
Hear the story of Musée des Tissus (Silk Museum)
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