Prato Textile Museum is Italy’s largest centre for the study, conservation and exhibition of historic and contemporary textile. Its mission is to promote the study, enhancement and exploitation of historic and contemporary textiles and all related artistic, industrial and technical aspects of interest. It represents a centre of promotion of the textile production of Prato district, an area important for textile production since the early Middle Age.

Textile Museum was opened in 1975 in the Textile Technical Institute “Tullio Buzzi”, as a cultural institution for the recovery of the local productive history, that dates from the 12th century, and to support training in the sector of textile design. It is managed by Prato Textile Museum Foundation, a foundation founded in November 2003 by Prato Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Craft, the Municipality of Prato, the Province of Prato and Prato Industrial.

In May 2003 the Museum found its definitive location in the restored Ex Cimatoria Campolmi, a factory which stands as a symbol of the textile manufacturing history of the area. The collections of Prato Textile Museum include more than 6000 items of great international importance and document the production of textiles from pre-Christian times to the modern day. Prato Textile Museum’s outstanding collection is displayed in a series of thematically-organized areas according to a strictly implemented criterion of rotation, the purpose of which is to provide variety in the exhibition contents, ensure correct conservation of the Museum’s antique textiles and enable a constant updating of the contemporary section.

The underlying objective of all the activities organized by Prato Textile Museum is to raise the awareness of an increasingly wide and diversified audience vis-à-vis both the local textile heritage and international textile manufacturing traditions. Thus the Museum offers a wide range of educational activities designed for students of all levels as well as a full adult education program which includes workshops, seminars and meetings.

On occasion of “The Style of the Tsar” exhibition, the museum will be fully dedicated to host the great masterpieces arriving in Prato from the most important Russian and Italian museums. The exhibition will be also the occasion for the inauguration of a newly restored room.