This use case brings together a remarkable range of Greek textiles across three thousand years of history, from mineralised archaeological finds of the Bronze and Classical ages to richly decorated Byzantine burial cloths and 19th-century regional costumes. These 28 objects, drawn from archaeological sites and the collections of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Benaki Museum, present diverse digitisation challenges that reflect the full breadth of Greek textile heritage.
Collection: Hellenic Ministry of Culture
The ancient textiles are mineralised and come from different time periods thus exhibiting different technological characteristics and digitisation challenges. The Lefkandi and Stamna textile finds are from the 10th c BCE. Lefkandi has a fringed decoration on a three-dimensional textile and a more complex woven band. Stamna textiles are a group of very fine to particularly coarse textiles, some inside and others on top of metal funerary vessels, one of which is decorated with dye in stripes. The Odos Thevon textiles are from the 5th c BC and have evidence of a stitched decoration. The BXM (burial textiles from the Byzantine & Christian Museum) textiles are from the late 10th to early 11th c AD and are decorated with very fine gold threads in tapestry and embroidery techniques.
Collection: The Benaki Museum
The historical textiles come from the collection of the Benaki museum and are dated to the 19th or early 20th century. Representative textiles, costumes and accessories from around Greece have been included: an oversized, embroidered bed tent from the Dodecanese islands (sperveri); a pleated voluminous dress from Sporades islands; head pieces from the Dodecanese embroidered with pearls and metal threads; an urban piece of costume with intricate cut and structure of the bodice and the skirt.
Responsible partner: Athena Research Centre
Items selected:
- Mineralised Textile and Band from Lefkandi
- Mineralised Textiles from two Funerary Vessels from Stamna
- Mineralised Textiles with Evidence of Stitched Decoration from Odos Thevon
- Burial Textiles Decorated with Gold Threads from the Byzantine and Christian Museum