High art in the pre-columbian Andes
Weaving achieved a high level of esthetic expression and technical refinement in the Andean region. The textile industry began here five thousand years ago with the domestication of cotton and the use of llama and alpaca hair to make yarn. To this day, the people of the Andes use weaving to represent a worldview and express a universe of symbols and social relations that intermediate everyday life with the sacred world of the spirits.
The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino possesses a valuable collection of pre-Columbian textiles, most of them from the desert coasts of Perú and Chile. The extremely arid conditions in these regions preserved these cultural artifacts, and the Museum will continue to safeguard them for future generations.
