Kurdish Textile Museum, Textile museum in Erbil Citadel, Iraq

The Kurdish Textile Museum occupies a restored mansion within Erbil Citadel and displays regional fabrics, traditional garments, carpets, and hand-crafted decorative pieces. The exhibitions showcase weaving techniques and production methods passed down through generations.

The museum opened in 2004 in a renovated mansion in the southeast quarter of Erbil Citadel. A restoration begun in 2012 lasted two years; it reopened in 2014 with new lighting and explanatory labels aligned with international museum standards. Its holdings are old and rare pieces placed there because making such items again is now difficult.

The collection displays weaving patterns and dyeing techniques that distinguish different Kurdish regions and communities. Visitors can observe how local plants were used to create dyes and what symbolic meanings the patterns carry in daily life.

The museum occupies two floors of the mansion: four ground-floor halls and an upper floor with a silver and pottery room, horse saddles, and a heritage-style café. The central courtyard displays wall carpets and wool bags. The 2012–2014 restoration updated lighting and labels to international museum standards.

The museum maintains an archive of wool samples dyed with wildflowers and plants native to the region, documenting traditional color extraction methods. This collection reveals which plant species produced specific shades used in textiles.