Calico Museum of Textiles, Gujarat, India

4pepita890 5:00 PM Feb 5, 2020

Visit to Calico museum by textile group
This is a wonderful museum with amazing collection of paintings on material, embroidery , carvings and bronzes . The gardens look amazing although you do not seem to be allowed around them. It is sadly let down by the guide who is very strict and officious and not engaging. She clearly knows her stuff but doesn’t seem to have the skills to share this with the visitors in a helpful way. One of our group had visited 2 years ago and had the same experience with the same guide. It would really help the museum to get someone else guiding who is better able to explain the wonderful treasures it holds.

3radames 5:00 PM Jan 4, 2023

Beautiful exhibits, tour design and experience needs a change
This is no doubt an extraordinary private collection, but a different pathway is needed for guiding visitors. Rather than rushing a large group through a huge number of exhibits with minimal information, maybe the choice of a few key pieces to tell a story would be preferable. There is no doubt that the guide has great reverence for the exhibits, but there is very limited information provided, and the stories told do little to illuminate the pieces for the audience. The strident and didactic delivery feels like a memorised script. The atmosphere is not a welcoming one and questions are dismissed. The tour needs a break halfway with perhaps some questions discussion- two and a half hours is a very long time to be shouted at. Most textiles are shrouded in plastic wrap for conservation reasons, with a loss of experience in terms of seeing texture, or in the case of clothing pieces, any sense of movement or draping. I would still recommend but keep expectations low, these many beautiful things do not come to life in the current format.