Books in Textile Library St Gallen, Switzerland

St Gallen Cathedral, the Abbey district and the library of University of St Gallen together were recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. While I couldn’t see the library of the university I could see the books in Textile Library of the Textilmuseum in St Gallen. The books displayed at Textile Library St Gallen, Switzerland are unique.

The museum has a good collection of books filled with intricate designs. For the first time I saw pages of books filled with textile designs and not print matter. The books of textile museum Switzerland are neatly displayed in rows and the open books have designs as old as 15th century, laces of different colors and sizes. Designers from Paris and New York procure designs from here even today.

books with unique medieval age lace designs

St Gallen Embroidery Lace

books with textile designs in Textile Library St Gallen

Textile Library St Gallen

The collections include the most beautiful designs of the era. Withered and worn out, yet charming, I am sure every textile designer will learn a lot from the collections here. They are kept in glass covered cases. I had this urge to turn over the page and see the next design.

Handcrafted laces on display here  deserves a special mention. Textile producers in those times made this excellent effort of collecting all designs in use and make them available to designers then. Today it is proving to be a useful resource of ideas and newer designs for latest fashion textile designers. Well-known fashion designers seek and favour the St. Gallen lace.

books with samples of laces - Textile Library St Gallen

Historical handcrafted lace in Textile Library St Gallen

books from textile museum switzerland

Colorful Embroidery in Textile Library St Gallen

The Textile Library has a collection of over 2000 sample books with textile patterns from Swiss companies. There are publications on lace and embroidery as well as media on materials, fashion, design and much more. There are interesting exhibits of historical embroideries and outstanding examples of lace.

Books of St. Gallen's Textile Museum Switzerland

Books of St. Gallen’s Textile Museum Switzerland

Books in Textile Library St Gallen Switzerland

Display of books with embroidered laces in Textilmuseum St Gallen

This textile library is worth visiting if you are into fashion and embroidery in particular. (Latest I read is that it was closed. Please do check if you plan to visit.)

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Books in Textile Library St Gallen Switzerland

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18 Responses to “Books in Textile Library St Gallen, Switzerland

  • This must be a dream for designers and artists alike. I know a friend of mine will love this place. I have a question though, what role dows Switzerland have in the international textile industry? Or is this just a repository for textiles of the past?

  • Oh wow that must be an interesting place to visit. thanks for sharing.

  • Awesome!

    Visiting from Theme for Thursday linky 🙂

  • Lovely pictures

  • Unique Museum .

  • How lovely – especially the book in that last photo!

  • What a fascinating display of books. I'd enjoy seeing them.

  • Nice design, this museum should be very interesting.

  • I just luv libraries. Can spend hours in them.. By the way the comment above me is so weird

    Pheno

  • Very nice!

  • What an interesting collection. It must be amazing to see such old fabrics and designs.

  • lovely take on the theme!

  • The lace is so beautiful. I would very much enjoy touring that museum.

  • A library is one the nicest places to be in.It must have been awesome to scroll through designs through the centuries !

  • seeds of future graphics. . .

    Aloha from Honolulu

    Comfort Spiral

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  • Liebe Indrani,
    ich bin ganz in der Nähe von St. Gallen aufgewachsen, habe in St. Gallen gearbeitet und kenne dieses Museum. Es freut mich ausserordentlich, dass Du hier diese wunderbare Stickerei- und Textilarbeiten vorstellst. Danke!

    Liebe Grüsse aus der Schweiz

    Hans-Peter

  • What an interesting place! I would love to browse there for a day even though I don't sew as I did at one time in my life, I fascinated by places like this! Great, different post for the day, Indrani! Have a lovely evening!

    Sylvia