"The TRC and the Stichting Güney are proud to present …. " This may sound like a cliché but in this case it is totally true. We were and are proud of the 'Sacred Textiles from Mecca and Medina' mini-exhibition, which was opened last Sunday, 20th September, in the presence of the Turkish ambassador designate, Dr. Burak Akçapar.

We have all been working hard for the last few weeks, writing text boards, organising lists of objects, translating texts into Dutch, and checking proposed programmes for this special event. Augusta de Gunzbourg, our curator, did the design layout before she went to a textile conference in Uzbekistan (a blog will shortly be published about her trip).

One of the reasons behind the mini-exhibition was to raise funds to process and store a very large Ottoman and regional Turkish collection that recently has been donated to the TRC (see previous blogs). The Turkish community here in Leiden are taking a very active part in the project and plans are being developed for exhibitions, workshops, lectures, perhaps even fashion shows!