The Calico Museum of Textiles

The Calico Museum of Textiles is the most educational place in Ahmedabad. It is a famous landmark that experts from India and other countries visit to learn more about Indian textiles. Many students go to the great museum to learn more about the city's diverse and rich textile culture, which is 600 years old.

Many students go to the museum to learn more about textile history and enjoy textile culture. You should see this stunning monument as part of your Ahmedabad tour package. 

History of the museum

The businessman Gautam Sarabhai and his sister Gira Sarabhai opened the Calico Museum in 1949. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was the first person to open the museum officially. The textile business in Ahmedabad has always been strong, but it was at its best in the late 1940s. 

Ananda Coomaraswamy, a philosopher, metaphysician, and one of the first historians and philosophers of Indian art, gave it its ideas. Coomaraswamy was the one who first thought of the idea for the museum. He told Shri Gautam Sarabhai that it should be in Ahmedabad, a prominent textile hub. 

Shri Sarabhai, his sister Gira Sarabhai, and the industrial house of Calico worked together to build this museum. Its goal is to teach people about the past and techniques of Indian handicrafts and industrial textiles. The collection used to be in Calico Mills, but management moved it to the Sarabhai House in Shahibaug in 1983 as it grew.

In the 1960s, the museum started a publishing program for Historical Textiles of India. John Irwin, who was then the keeper of the Victoria and Albert Museum's Indian Section, was in charge of editing the first book. Dr. Alfred Bühler, who was in charge of editing a Contemporary Textile Craft Survey of India, was tasked with revising the second book.

What is the Calico Museum of Textiles famous for?

The Calico Museum of Textiles is India's best textile museum. The Sarabhai Foundation runs it. Many people think that its collection of Indian linens is the best and most extensive in the world. It is a place worth exploring among the places to visit in Ahmedabad.

Who is the owner of the Calico Museum of Textiles?

The Calico Mills was one of the first textile mills in Ahmedabad. A person with ties to the Sarabhai family surname, Sheth Karamchand Premchand, opened it in 1888. There were mills on 241,022 square meters, about 59.558 acres, along the Sabarmati River.