Royal Textile Academy and Textile Museum

The Royal Textile Academy is a non-profit institution set up in May 2005 under the patronage of Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, to keep Bhutanese weaving alive and to look after historic cloth. Its building at Chubachu, a few minutes from the town centre, was opened by the Queen Mother in June 2013 and houses the textile museum that most visitors now come to see.

The galleries

The museum is arranged over two galleries. The upper gallery is a permanent display of the different weaves made across the country, which is the quickest way to understand why a kira from one valley looks nothing like one from another. The lower gallery hosts themed exhibitions, usually for about nine months at a time. Royal pieces are part of the collection, including the Raven Crown and the crowns and robes worn at royal weddings. In June 2026 the academy opened a special exhibition on the works of His Majesty the Fourth King, inaugurated by His Royal Highness the Gyalsey.

Weavers and conservators at work

The academy is a working place as well as a museum. Its weaving school trains young weavers in traditional techniques, natural dyeing and design, and its Textile Conservation Centre restores fragile textiles lent by dzongs and monasteries. The museum shop sells textiles bought from rural weavers through the academy's acquisition programme, which makes it a sound place to buy a piece knowing where it came from.

Plan on about an hour if you enjoy textiles. It fits well with the Folk Heritage Museum and the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, where weaving and embroidery are taught among the thirteen traditional arts.