The Lienzo Project: Collaboration with indigenous communities and conservators in Mexico

Film

The Lienzo of Coixtlahuaca II / Lienzo Seler II, a painted cotton cloth from the 16th century, originally comes from the valley of Coixtlahuaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. It is regarded as an outstanding artefact in the Mesoamerican collection of the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum) at the Humboldt Forum and recounts the history of the Coixtlahuaca valley and neighbouring areas from the 11th to the 16th century. It is therefore a key document of great symbolic value for the indigenous communities living in the valley. The lienzo thus serves as a link for the collaboration between the Ethnologisches Museum and the Coixtlahuaca Municipal Museum in the valley’s main town, as well as the towns and communities of San Gerónimo Otla, Santa María Nativitas, San Miguel Tequixtepec and San Miguel Tulancingo. 

The film documents the week-long CoMuse workshop held in Berlin in April 2024, attended by representatives of these towns and communities and by Mexican textile conservators, who discussed issues relating to the conservation of the lienzo alongside their Berlin-based colleagues and shared their findings during the workshop.