Learn about Andean weaving and culture
The Portal to Peru project presents and interprets Andean weaving from the region of Cusco, Peru. Working in collaboration with the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC), the website offers multiple ways to learn about, experience, and appreciate Andean cultural heritage and the lives and work of Andean weavers.
We suggest exploring the site by visiting the main sections listed below, moving from left to right across the screen:
To learn more about the Center for Traditional Textiles (CTTC) and the ten communities with which they work.
To learn more about Andean weaving in Cusco, including designs, textile types and techniques, and the process of weaving.
To step into the shoes of a visitor to the Center for Traditional Textiles (CTTC) and interact with a weaver, the Center director, or a textile salesperson.
To explore the permanent textile collection of the Center for Traditional Textiles.
To contribute your own comments, stories, and pictures about themes related to Andean cultural heritage.
Browse through these exhibits to explore textile designs and types, as well as to learn more about the process of weaving and weaving techniques. This part of the website also features exhibits based around key themes that run through several of the separate exhibits. You are invited to make your own contribution to these exhibits, commenting or adding onto the materials from the Center for Traditional Textiles.
Weaving in Andean communities involves a number of steps, including: shearing, spinning, skeining, dyeing, warping, weaving, and finishing.
Weaving in the Andean community involves the use of different techniques that have been passed on from generation to generation.
Andeans create a number of different types of textiles, which may be used for a variety of purposes. These include: everyday clothing, festival or ritual functions, and practical purposes such as carrying.
Andean weaving features a wide variety of designs, representing everything from natural features to abstract designs.
The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco currently works with ten communities around the Cusco region. Learn a little about each of the communities and their distinctive weaving practices on this community tour.
In this part of the website you are invited to learn more about how weavers interact and work with tourists, volunteers, and people who visit them to learn how to weave. You can do this by stepping into the virtual shoes of a visitor to the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco.
Here you can explore the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco’s permanent textile collection. If you are a scholar interested in Andean weaving, you can search the database to explore these valuable cultural artifacts held by the Center at your own pace and depth.