July 28, 2017
Museo de Textiles Tradicionales de Cusco
We visited the Museo de Textiles Tradicionales de Cusco.
The Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC) is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1996 by indigenous weavers of the Cusco region and their international supporters. Their ancestral textiles were in danger of disappearing as globalizing forces, racism and poverty threatened their communities. The CTTC unites weaving communities to rescue, promote, and spread their traditional textile knowledge.
The CTTC works with 600 weavers from 10 weaving associations in the Cusco region. Each community maintains a unique textile tradition that they hope to continue into the future through their work with the Young Weavers, children and adolescent who are learning from their elders.
“I have learned that each and every piece of cloth embodies the spirit, skill, and personal history of and individual weaver. Weaving is a living art, and expression of culture, geography, and history. It ties together with an endless thread the emotional life of my people” – Nilda Callañaupa, Founder and Director of CTTC.