Abegg-Stiftung

The Villa Abegg was built by Werner and Margaret Abegg in the 1960s in the style of north Italian Baroque. The interior with its historical wall-panelling contains antique furniture and works of art from the Renaissance to the Rococo, supplementing and extending the Abegg-Stiftung collection. Yet the villa has also retained the character of a private home that small, discreet groups of visitors are welcome to admire on guided tours. Each year, a different work of art or group of objects is brought to the fore.

Textile production in India was highly developed during the reign of the Mughal Dynasty (1526–1858). Multi-coloured velvets, artfully patterned silk fabrics and resist-dyed cottons were made to serve as interior furnishings for Indian palaces, but also for clothing and letter pouches. The Abegg-Stiftung is showing its small but exquisite collection of Indian textiles for the first time. Together with colourful miniature paintings, they offer a fascinating insight into India's flourishing textile period.

The permanent exhibition presents the highlights of the collection. These include ancient wall hangings preserved in the sandy deserts of Egypt, kaftans from Central Asia and Mongolia, silk robes from China’s Liao Dynasty and sumptuous fabrics woven in Europe between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. Paintings, sculptures and important works of applied art are also exhibited and shed light on the interrelationships between textiles and other arts.