WASHINGTON, DC.- Weaving an Empire: Textiles of the Inka World reveals how Andean dress and other textiles in the 15th and 16th centuries reflected both the influence of the Inka—who built one of the world’s largest empires, rapidly expanding beyond the Cuzco Valley to occupy much of South America’s western region—and the local styles of communities under Inka rule. On view through December 23, 2026, this is The Textile Museum's first major exhibition of South American textiles in over 20 years.

"The Textile Museum holds more than 9,000 Latin American textiles—one of the largest collections of its kind outside the region—and they account for nearly half of our 21,000 handmade textile works spanning five continents and five millennia," said John Wetenhall, director of The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum. "This exhibition is an opportunity to showcase the museum’s scholarship on the Inka while serving as an accessible introduction for visitors interested in learning more about this complex empire."


Man’s tunic, Peru, Late Horizon (1470-1532 CE). The Textile Museum Collection 1962.6.1. Museum purchase.

"Through nearly 50 elite and utilitarian textiles, visitors can learn how peoples across the Inka Empire at its apex dressed to signify their affiliation with the state while at the same time reflecting the textile traditions and local styles of their communities," said Shelley Burian, the museum’s Lisa and Bernard Selz Curator, who oversees the Indigenous American textiles collection. "Every component of clothing, from materials to colors and motifs, served as a means of identifying a person’s cultural affiliation, the region they inhabited, their relationship to the ruling state and their social status."

Weaving an Empire presents a range of textiles from the diverse cultures under Inka rule, such as a rare example of a woman's wrap dress made from alpaca fiber that was found in the Chuqibamba region near Peru's southern coast. While regional styles of dress continued under Inka rule, they also evolved. A colorful man's tunic with an elaborate pattern of birds and swirling geometric designs is among the examples of new compositions for garments that developed as the Inka sought to distinguish non Inka officials.


Man’s tunic (unku), Peru, Late Horizon (1470-1532 CE). The Textile Museum Collection 91.147. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1932.

One of the finest Inka tunics in existence is among the elite garments on display. It features the "Inka key" style defined by an arrangement of squares featuring an abstract design of diagonal lines and squares in contrasting colors on the top and horizontal stripes of alternating colors on the bottom. The final section of the exhibition explores the ways in which the Inka used sacred imagery, special techniques and materials from other Andean traditions, and includes a bag featuring elaborate featherwork that was found in the Ica Valley of Peru.


Khipu, Peru, Late Horizon (1470-1532 CE). The Textile Museum Collection 91.508. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1952.

Artworks that complement the garments include an intriguing group of “khipus,” which are bundles of knotted and colored cords used to store numerical and narrative data, and a pair of drinking vessels, known as "kero," made of lacquered and painted wood depicting Indigenous people wearing garments that correspond to pieces in the show.

Due to their age and fragility, the textiles are displayed flat. To help visitors understand how they were worn and the visual effect they created, the galleries display two mannequins dressed in reconstructions of men’s and women’s clothing made by Associate Conservator Cathleen Zaret, as well as illustrations of authentic drawings from the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen.

Related programming on Peruvian textiles and culture is organized in cooperation with the Embassy of Peru.

Gallery Guides and Audio Tours

Printed gallery guides in the exhibition provide visitors with information and illustrations about elements of Andean dress, textile materials, and stylistic characteristics of different regions. Audio tours in English and Spanish are available free of charge via a QR code in the gallery guide.

Special Public and Member Programs

The public is invited to the museum on Saturday, September 19, for a presentation and demonstration by Nilda Calla�aupa Alvarez, an Indigenous Quechua weaver and a founder of the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC). Her talk Preserving Textile Traditions of the Andes will also be available to livestream online; registration is required. Handwoven accessories and home goods from the CTTC are available for purchase in the museum’s Artisans Gallery.


Photo by Carol Ventura.

On Saturday, December 5, join presentations and discussion online in The Textile Museum Journal Roundtable: New Perspectives on Inka Textiles. The roundtable expands on the themes of Weaving an Empire with talks including "Dress and Identity in the Inka Empire" by exhibition curator Shelley Burian; “Variations in Men's Warp Faced Tunics from Southern Peru" by Penelope Dransart, honorary reader, University of Aberdeen”; and "A Chumpi Belt and the Role of Women Across the Inka Empire" by Gaby Greenlee, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. To participate, please register online.

Consult the museum website for more public and member programs extending through December, including gallery talks and lectures.

Exhibition Support

Lead support for this exhibition is provided by The Coby Foundation, Ltd., the Historic Textile Research Foundation, Peruvian Connection, and the Western Hemisphere Curatorial Scholarship Fund. Additional support is provided by Corinne M. Berezuk, Tina M. deVries, and Roger and Claire Pratt.

Visiting Information

The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum is located on GW’s Foggy Bottom campus at 701 21st St. NW, in Washington, D.C., just blocks from the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery, White House, Lisner Auditorium, and the National Mall. Galleries are open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed on university holidays. Admission to the museum is free. For information on the museum's visiting hours, exhibitions and educational programs, please check the museum website.