Princess Royal opens Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History

Posted on 11th February '11

HRH The Princess Royal officially opened The Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History at the University of Glasgow today (Wednesday 9 February).

Founded by The Textile Conservation Centre Foundation (TCCF) and the University of Glasgow the new teaching and research facility – the only resource of its kind in the UK – succeeds the Textile Conservation Centre at the University of Southampton which closed in 2009.

The new Centre will focus on multidisciplinary object-based teaching and research that encompasses conservation and the physical sciences as well as art history, dress and textile history. It will be the first time that conservation training has been undertaken in Scotland and, combined with Glasgow University’s recent developments in technical art history, the new centre will have national and international impact. 

It is especially apt that The Princess Royal should open and tour the facility as she has been a long supporter of textile conservation in the UK and Patron of the TCC Foundation for over 15 years.

 Textile Conservation Centre Foundation Chairman, The Marquess of Douro said:

"The TCC Foundation is delighted with this new development, which builds on the world class work, both in education and research, of the former Textile Conservation Centre. The University of Glasgow is the best possible home for this new Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History and future opportunities for the Centre are very exciting.  The enthusiastic support of Glasgow Life's museums and the wider museum and conservation sector in Scotland has been immense and augurs very well for the future."

The new Centre – based in the University’s Robertson Building - inherits existing library intellectual property and analytical equipment from TCCF, so that staff and future students will be able to draw on the key physical and intellectual assets built up over more than 30 years.

Students will also have the opportunity to work with some of the best textile collections in the world held by Glasgow Museums, the National Museums of Scotland and the University’s own Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery. The Centre will work closely with the Foundation to establish a global research network in textile conservation, textile and dress history and technical art history.

The new Centre has benefitted from the generosity of many funders including the Glasgow based Robertson Trust;,The Clothworkers' Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation The Headley Trust, The Monument Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, The Getty Foundation and many others.