The Royal Textile Academy of Bhutan is one of the nation’s first institutions dedicated to the conservation and exhibition of textiles, and the various international techniques used to create them.

Weaving is a fundamental component of Bhutanese culture, thus the Royal Textile Academy of Bhutan was established at the behest of Her Majesty Gyalyum (Queen Mother) Sangay Choden Wangchuck as a nonprofit institution in 2005.

The academy serves as an educational space by which trainees learn weaving traditions and techniques, how to dye their yarn, and basic business practices such as bookkeeping. It’s also a conservation center used to restore precious artifacts from monasteries all over Bhutan, and a museum that hosts a rotating program of exhibitions relating to the textile arts.

Since its inception, the Royal Textile Academy has since expanded to include offices and partnered with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to further the organization’s mission to preserve this vital element of Bhutanese art and history.