Abegg-Stiftung

The Abegg Foundation collects and undertakes research into historic textiles from the early days to around 1800, primarily regarding pieces from the European and Mediterranean areas. With Werner and Margaret Abegg’s private collection, it also holds important works of applied art, paintings and sculpture. The permanent exhibition takes account of both of these primary concerns and endeavours to show their mutual influences and cross-fertilization through a selection of works of various kinds. The textile fabrics are not shown in isolation but placed in their historic and artistic context. Among the groups of works brought together in the exhibition according to topographic and chronological considerations, the textile wall hangings of late antiquity, pieces from the European Middle Ages and the testimonies of the Silk Road from the early Middle Ages are of major international importance.