Introduction

Our main goal is to introduce Suzani heritage. By providing a window to the Suzani world we hope to keep its visual identity alive in our collective memory.
In comparison to various ‘Eastern’ ancient textiles, Suzani art is mostly unknown in most parts of the world, even though it is a centuries-old practice. Part of the reason for this lack of presence is the limited access to the actual textiles, which are usually kept in private collections. Thus, the museum’s first mission was to provide an online photo archive of original and antique Suzanis, representing various Suzani collections.

In 2016, we initiated the Suzani Research Center, to complement and complete the initial goal of the Suzani Museum. The history and tradition of Suzani art and practice is understudied and the information available is limited. Even amongst collectors and textile experts, there is a general gap of knowledge of the Suzani world. To address this problem, we decided to find and collect all the studies which have been done on the subject of Suzani whether in Uzbekistan and Russia or by authors in Europe and The US. 

Since 2016, the Suzani Museum and Research Center, has launched a new section dedicated to collecting data on Suzani, by supporting field research in Russia and Uzbekistan, and funding translation projects. At the same time, we regularly update our comprehensive bibliography from all the possible references in the field of Suzani. The museum’s publication has translated original studies on Suzani, from Russian to English, written in the early 20th century.
We are excited and proud to share all that we have achieved with Suzani lovers all over the globe on this website. The interactions within this community are fundamental to the Center’s mission and enable us to grow, adapt and better serve the next generation of suzani enthusiasts. We would like to invite you to help us by sending your comments and ideas. We would appreciate it if you introduce us to Suzani experts, studies, or collections that you might know of. We ask you to circulate our regular open calls for scholars and researchers to join our ongoing projects.