Calico Museum of Textiles

The Calico Museum of Textiles located in Ahmedabad, India, is a premier textile museum of the country. The museum was founded in 1949 by the industrialist Gautam Sarabhai and his sister Gira Sarabhai, along with the industrial house of Calico, at a time when the textile industry was flourishing in Ahmedabad.

The museum has an outstanding collection of Indian fabrics that exemplifies handicraft textiles spanning five centuries. It has also become a major reference centre for handicraftsmen and also the machine textile industry. It therefore attracts large numbers of visitors from the general public, as well as Indian and international research scholars.

The museum also has a publications programme which has two distinct directions: (a) historical studies of textiles of India and (b) research and publication of studies concerned with the technical and scientific aspects of textile processes like looms, dyeing, printing techniques and others.

The museum also has a publications programme which has two distinct directions: (a) historical studies of textiles of India and (b) research and publication of studies concerned with the technical and scientific aspects of textile processes like looms, dyeing, printing techniques and others.

The specimens of historical textiles of 17th and 18th century are exhibited in nine different halls, and include wall panels, bed sheets, curtains, shirts with golden embroidery, carpets, tents, belts, Patolas of Patan, window curtains of Dhaka, Kashmiri blankets and shawls, Bandhanis of Gujarat and a range of religious textiles and artifacts connected to Vaishnavism and Jainism.

The museum is currently managed by Sarabhai Foundation.