The Abegg-Stiftung has been studying, documenting and conserving more than 200 archaeological textiles from the National Museum of Beirut, Lebanon, for several years now. Before they are returned, these unique witnesses to medieval life are to go on show as the subject of this year’s special exhibition.

On display will be garments and accessories discovered between 1988 and 1993 during excavations in the Assi el-Hadath cave in the Qadisha Valley, about 100 km north of Beirut. Several adults and children were buried in this remote, inaccessible cave in the thirteenth century. All of them were fully clothed and wrapped in sheets. Thanks to the dry climate, their last garments have survived to this day. The many repairs and modifications tell us they were not made specially for burial but were already worn during the wearer’s lifetime. Textiles were precious material. Unusable items of clothing were not thrown away but were reworked for new purposes. These cloths, tunics and head coverings therefore paint a fascinating picture of ordinary life during the thirteenth century and the many different forms of recycling then practised.