Source: Kuensel
With a dzong like structure, the Royal Textile Academy (RTA) that stands tall at the far end of the capital in Chubachu is now open to visitors.
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Her Majesty the Queen Mother, Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck
with Dr Fredrick Paulsen at the textile museum |
Surrounded by the buzzing city life at one end to lush green paddy fields on the other, the RTA, which was inaugurated yesterday, stands three storied tall, symbolic of the country’s rich cultural heritage.
The flight of stairs ends at the glass door of the textile museum that has a collection of kiras on sale. It’s the museum’s first floor that houses rare textiles that date back to the 17th century. Protected within thick glass cases are the ‘never seen before’ royal collections on display.
Some of the royal collections comprise the Raven Crown, the royal wedding crowns; royal wedding dresses, including the intricately designed wedding shoes of Her Majesty the Gyeltsuen.
The next room, located a few stairs up, displays artifacts from the late 19th century, such as a hat (zham), queen’s or princesses’ hat (pesha-zham), throne cover (thrikheb) and seat cover (denkheb).
Other textiles such as a woman’s shoulder cloth (namza rachu), brooch (koma), and different designs of kira, tego, wonju and gho from different communities in the country are also on display.
Across the textile museum is the weaving centre, where a few weavers are at work, plucking in different intricate designs on their looms.
The royal patron and founder, Her Majesty the Queen Mother, Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, inaugurated the textile museum and the weaving centre.
Her Majesty the Queen Mother said the royal textile academy was founded with a mission to educate, promote and preserve Bhutanese textiles.
“The academy will also create international awareness and encourage international collaboration to promote mutually beneficial exhibits and education programs,” the Queen Mother said.
Dr Fredrick Paulsen of Ferring Group, who is fascinated by the country’s history of art, textiles and carpet weaving, funded the academy’s construction.
“After assembling priceless collections of historical Bhutanese carpets from around the world, he returned them to Bhutan with the mission of retaining the special culture,” the Queen Mother said.
RTA’s executive director, Rinzin O Dorji, said, besides preserving and promoting Bhutanese textile, the weaving centre would train new students, who are interested in the art of weaving, yarn dyeing and other contemporary skills related to fashion design and merchandising.
“The project of the construction of RTA is divided into four phases, where phase one included the construction of the textile museum, plaza, entrances and the courtyard,” she said. “Phase two consists of the construction of the textile school and the conservation centre.”
To date, the project’s phase two has been completed with a budget of USD 2.9M that was donated from the government of India and other donors.
With Dr Fredrick Paulsen’s donation of USD 3M, the project’s phase three of constructing the administrative blocks will start. Phase four would be the construction of a banquet hall that would seat over a thousand people.
The academy is built on 4.75 acres of leased government land. The museum is open for visitors from 9AM to 4PM every day except Sundays. A national will have to pay an entry fee of Nu 10, while for SAARC country nationals, it’s Nu 25, and Nu 150 for others, including tourists.
The RTA was founded in 2005 as a non-profit, non-governmental civil society organisation.
Today, there will be a fashion show on Bhutanese textile at the RTA from 7PM.
By Thinley Zangmo
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