The Educational Museum of Silk collects, preserves, displays the testimonies of the textile production tradition in Como such as machines, objects, documents, samples and work tools from textile processing that qualify Como city of silk.
The building in which the museum is located was built between 1968 and 1975 on a project by the architects Lorenzo Muzio and Franco Tartaglino, who won the public competition for the construction of a new seat of the Como textile school, more prestigious than the original one of the 1908.
In addition to the museum, the building houses the State Technical Industrial Institute of Setificio "Paolo Carcano" and the Experimental Station for silk.
The more than one thousand square meters of the museum is a place for exhibitions and cultural events related to textiles, open to the public, schools and universities. The Museum also has a store selling products that express the quality of silk in the Como area. By acquiring a head, this cultural institution is supported to carry on its mission in order to preserve, study and tell the culture and history of its territory.
Love and passion for silk art have ancient origins, consolidated thanks to the professional education for professionals in the sector promoted, starting in 1866, by the Chamber of Commerce, the Province and the Municipality of Como.
The Como area in which it is located, between the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century was a flourishing place for textile firms, thanks to the availability of hydraulic energy for the proximity of the stream Cosia. Thus an ideal bond has been created between the museum and the history of the Como manufacturing industry.
