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One, Two, Three, Viva Algerie!
by Julia Brennan
IN THE SUMMER OF 2007 I WAS
invited to teach textile
conservation at the Bardo
National Museum in Algiers for
six weeks. I really have been to
the Casbah!! Like many
Americans, I knew so little about
Algeria. My only sense of the
country was informed by
Delacroix’s romantic paintings of
19th-century Casbah women,
and college courses that touched
on the long, bloody Algerian War
for Independence. I didn’t know
that Albert Camus and Yves St.
Laurent were both Algerian; that
St. Augustine was born in 354
AD in Hippo (now Annaba); that
the famed Barbarossa pirates
ruled the Mediterranean from
the Bay of Algiers; or that
Tlemcen was the silk ribbonmaking
capitol of the Ottoman
empire. I didn’t know I would
stay in the same elegant neo-
Moorish hotel as General
Eisenhower did in 1942. I
certainly didn’t know that my
workplace would be a stunningly
beautiful 17th-century Moorish
villa–an intellectual oasis in the heart of busy Algiers. I couldn’t
have imagined that I would fall in
love with my colleagues: their
wit, nationalism and warm
hospitality. I could never imagined this setting and the
world of Ottoman-style textiles
I was to become immersed in.
The project was co-funded
by the Algerian Ministry of
Culture and the US State
Department’s Ambassador’s
Fund for Cultural Preservation. It
was the first textile conservation
workshop ever held in Algeria.
The Bardo Museum was founded
in 1930 and is one of the oldest
museums in the country, and a
veritable repository of prehistoric have and ethnographic collections from
Algeria and Africa. My trainees
were 10 curators and technicians,
many of whom have worked at
the museum for over 20 years. Most were trained anthropologists
and archaeologists, with a
high level of formal education.
They knew their collections
intimately, and have researched,
published and done their best to
preserve them.
The Bardo is an exquisite
example of an Ottoman regency
country-style villa. The main
building was constructed in the
mid-1600s by a rich Tunisian
prince. It is characterized by multiple
courtyards, walled gardens, antechambers for entertaining,
winding staircases and intimate
nooks. Surfaces are adorned
with magnificent ceramic tiles–a
historic patchwork from Turkey,
Morocco, Spain, Algeria and
Holland. Some date from the 15th century. The ethnographic
exhibitions now occupy most of
the original private domestic spaces
in period rooms that romantically
reconstruct life in the
Ottoman period. Our workshop
was held in a quaint room, with views overlooking the Pavillion
of the Favorite and an enclosed
garden.....a world created to conceal women in their daily
lives. In Ottoman architecture
the home is a feminine space,
and textiles are the feminine expressions therein. Embroidery
was done everyday in private
quarters, behind silk and linen
embroidered curtains. All forms
of intimate and domestic textiles
were embellished. Hand embroidery
continues today in a limited
way. Modern urban life has
given way to machine stitching
and store-bought goods. In this
intimate space, we began our
workshop, much of it stitching,
recreating an atmosphere of a
bygone time.
The textile collections
comprise 18th-20th-century
Ottoman “urban”-style costumes,
embroideries and other household
textiles. Most are Algerian,
but there is a large collection of
Tunisian textiles, plus some rural
ethnographic collections–primarily
Touareg and Kabylie (Berber).
Our work ommenced with
the most important and fragile
pieces. We were able to do 12
treatments in all–a significant
achievement, considering that
some treatments took over 60
hours.
Our first efforts focused on
a collection of corsets or frimla,
tiny brassiere-like vests made of
silver and gold brocades and silk
plaids, with decorative conical
buttons down the front, floralprinted
cotton linings, and gold
soutache braid along the edges.
They are exquisite little accessories
to be worn over full-sleeved
silk brocade or tulle blouses–very
much a part of mid-19th-century
stylish clothing, and similar
to Turkish vests of this period.
Our stabilization treatments utilized
overlays of fine netting or
silk crepeline, stitched over the
backs, front plackets and sometimes
the lining.
We worked on several
19th-century velvet robes (caftans),
vests (jabadouli and ghelila)
and tailored jackets (karakou),
which are clearly derived from
Ottoman-period (Turkish) costumes.
Two distinct characteristics
which link these costumes
to their Ottoman precedents
are the deep colors of the velvets
and the gold embroidered
decoration. Like Ottoman costumes,
the stylistically formal and
symmetrical embroidery covers
large sections of the garments,
giving them a sumptuousness
and rigidity. The embroidery
is executed in gold and silver
metallic threads, couched down,
twisted in coils, and embellished
with metallic sequins. The technique
is actually one of wrapping
thin gold or silver metal wire
around yellow threads. The two
techniques are locally referred to
as el medjboud and el fetla. Much
of the velvet was dry-rotted, and
unable to support the heavy
embroidery. Our stabilization Our stabilization
techniques involved inserting
fabric patches between the velvet
and the cotton inner lining,
and stitching the damaged areas
to these supports.
While many costumes were
reminiscent of earlier Ottoman
styles, here, too, local elements
have been blended to create
uniquely Algerian costumes.
Several of the museum’s 19th-
century robes and jackets were probably wedding costumes,
and the same styles can be seen
today. In all the bridal boutiques,
the similarities between the
18th-20th-century historic costumes
and contemporary models
were noteworthy. The velvet colors
are still the traditional ones:
blue-black, blood maroon, wheat
gold, deep forest green. The
fabrics are now rayon and cotton
velvet, and much of the gold
embroidery is machine-done,
but the basic styles and ornately
embellished surfaces are the
same. They are produced locally,
and many are made by commission
only. Nowadays costumes
are a highlight of every wedding.
The celebration is a continuous
runway show, as the bride successively
(exhaustingly) changes
her outfits, displaying beauty,
wealth and regional heritage.
The workshop brought
together a very engaged group of
museum professionals in a highly
productive environment. In daily
forums we discussed condition,
possible treatments and storage
solutions, and reviewed preventative
conservation theory
and practices. One of the most important breakthroughs in
working with collections in poor with
condition was the understanding
by the participants of the
distinction between conservation
and restoration. The participants
learned the fundamentals of conservation, and to accept age
and imperfections as part of the
history of the artifact.
The Bardo Museum took the
opportunity to use the workshop
to launch a new conservation
directive for the museum. The
work continues today on the
textile collections. Since the
completion of the workshop,
staff has continued the treatment
and mount-making projects
that were initiated. Long-range
plans for reorganizing storage
are underway. This is a strong testament to the sustainability of
this project. Hopefully, funds for
ongoing training can be raised to
maintain this important cultural
heritage and continue to build a
solid base of conservation-trained
professionals.
It was a great privilege
for me to work at the Bardo
Museum and be immersed in the
rich artistic history of Algeria.
My special thanks go to:
Director Mme. Azzoug, who
welcomed me with abundant
hospitality, and has the vision to
steer the Bardo Museum into the future; Mrs. Sibyl Erdman, whose
cultural passions nurtured this
grant, and inspired me, as well
as many Algerian friends in the
arts; Sara, my daughter, assistant,
French and Arabic translator, and
the real “ambassador.”
– Julia M. Brennan,
Textile Conservator
www.caringfortextiles.com
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