Medieval textiles preserved in a monastery granary

The Museo de Telas Medievales preserves a collection of civilian garments regarded as the most important of their kind in the world. This collection includes items for men, women, and children from the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. Because of its high degree of preservation and the richness of the pieces, it is considered the most important museum of its kind globally, housing the only perfectly dated set of medieval civil clothing.

Situated in the old granary of the Monastery of Las Huelgas Reales in Burgos, the museum houses textiles recovered from the burials of Castilian royalty. These include the spectacular funerary suite of Fernando de la Cerda, which remained intact because it was not looted during the French occupation between 1808 and 1813. One notable item is the mantle of Fernando de la Cerda, made of silk brocade with gold and silver threads and heraldic decoration featuring castles and lions.

A primary object of curiosity is the Pendón de las Navas de Tolosa. Although it was once believed to be a trophy from the 1212 battle, it was actually acquired by Fernando III during the conquest of the Guadalquivir valley in the mid 13th century. This exceptional Almohad tapestry is woven with gold threads over vibrant silks and displays cufic inscriptions and iconographies.

The museum is housed in the old grain warehouse of the Cistercian monastery founded in 1187. One wall still shows the chutes through which grain fell from the loft into the storehouse where it was deposited by the monastery's tenants.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons