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In the heart of what was once a thriving flax-growing region, the Texture Museum commemorates the rich history of the flax and linen industry in Flanders. Established in 2014, it tells an international story featuring thinkers, visionaries, and doers in the leading roles, deeply rooted in the region’s DNA. The museum’s core holdings focus on textiles – with the bequest of baron Joseph de Bethune (1859-1920) at its foundation – and flax, with the latter highlighting the regional production and entrepreneurship.
By the late fifteenth century, Kortrijk had emerged as a premier European center for the production and trade of linen damask. Following the northward movement of many Kortrijk weavers in the late 16th century, Haarlem emerged as another center. Consequently, historical Flemish and Dutch damask is a cornerstone of the museum’s collection. Texture preserves more than 1,200 pieces dating from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries, including nearly 600 works produced before 1700. Unique in Belgium, the damask collection is renowned for its exceptional scope, quality, and coherence. Highlights include several pieces with the Habsburg coat of arms, a 16th-century tablecloth with the story of Creation probably made in Kortrijk, and 17th-century napkins with the coat of arms of for example the Amsterdam Jacobus Rijckaert and Constantia Bartolotti on a floral pattern, or the story of Orpheus with the coat of arms of the Frisian Taco van Camminga and Lucia van Grovenstins.
In addition to damask, the textile collection includes significant holdings of Belgian lace. While most date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the collection includes important older pieces as well. The museum is currently starting a research project to register and document its lace collection, which will eventually result in a new collection presentation.
Marijn Everaarts, Exhibition Curator (March 2026)