The Abegg-Stiftung has been studying and conserving a group of archaeological textiles from Lebanon for several years now. The garments and accessories dating from the thirteenth century were found during excavations in the Assi el-Hadath cave in the Qadisha Valley between 1988 and 1993. Thanks to the dry climate there they are well preserved and are now prized as unique testimony to the clothes worn by a rural population during the Middle Ages. They tell us how carefully cloth was handled in those days and how even small pieces of fabric were made up into garments, which were then decorated and repaired as needed.The child’s dress exhibited here belongs to the National Museum of Beirut and was studied, documented and conserved for a master’s project in textile conservation and restoration at the Abegg-Stiftung/Bern University of Applied Sciences.
