site.btaNational Gallery Presents Unique Collection of Western European Tapestries

The National Gallery presents for the first time its unique collection of Western European textile panels (tapestries). The exhibition will be on display in Kvadrat 500 from March 12 until August 3, the organizers said.

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is a media partner of the event.

"The tapestries were added to the collection in the 1960s by the Bulgarian National Bank as part of the holdings of the defunct National Gallery of Decorative and Applied Arts. They belong to the golden period of the 16th-18th centuries of the two most important schools - Flemish and French. The exhibition in Hall 19 of Kvadrat 500 is the result of several years of iconographic and attribution research of the works, carried out together with restoration and conservation procedures," the team says.

They note that the tapestry – an extremely expensive to produce hand-loomed panel with colourful images – is used for decoration and wall insulation in palaces and castles. Tapestries, with their splendour, are the property of the elite, adorn private and public spaces and are signs of power and prestige.

The exhibition programme includes lectures, specialised tours and workshops on the technology of tapestry making, restoration and conservation of antique textiles, as well as those aimed mainly at children and youth. A mobile digitalized version of the exposition is planned, which will be presented through the State Institute for Culture under the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Bulgarian diplomatic missions, in the Bulgarian Cultural Association in Brussels, as well as in the Museum of Textile Industry in Sliven, and in the historical museums in Panagyurishte and Strelcha. 

The research and preparation of the tapestries for exhibition continued for more than a year at the conservation and restoration laboratory of the National Gallery, with funding from the Ministry of Culture and in partnership with the French Institute in Bulgaria and the National Academy of Arts.