PETITION: MUSÉE DES TEXTILES, LYON

It was the French King François I (1494 –1547) who, in 1536, gave permission to two Piedmontese weavers to set up their looms and establish silk weaving in Lyon. He wanted a domestic supply of the luxury cloth for the French nobility and clergy, and to reduce his trade deficit from imported silk goods from Italy. In 1540 he granted a monopoly on silk production to the city of Lyon, and from this moment the history of the city’s textile industry became tied to silk weaving. Silk shaped the city’s development and prosperity, its fortunes growing from this luxurious material, and later, the commerce in silk which brought global recognition. Through silk, Lyon achieved dominance and became France’s second city after Paris. This fine thread has given it a different historical experience from other towns associated with textile production in France, such as Rouen in the North and Lille in the North-East, whose economies were based respectively on wool and linen, and then cotton. The city of Lyon owes a lot to textiles and now the Museum of Textiles and Decorative Arts in Lyon is under threat of closure, which would be a major loss of cultural heritage. The museum is the custodian of the first textile collection in the world – two and a half million works spanning 4,500 years of history and representing a panorama of all civilisations, eras, styles and techniques – and the second collection of decorative arts in France. Sign this petition urging the French Minister of Culture and Communication, Mrs Audrey Azoulay and The Director General of Heritage, Monsieur Vincent Berjot, to re-evaluate the museum's cultural significance and economic future. Sign the petition to save the Museum of Textiles and Decorative Arts in Lyon. This is in part an extract from Genevieve Woods' article in the Etiquette issue of Selvedge. www.change.org