Treasure of Punjab: Gurudwara antiquities

Indian textiles produced since antiquity conveys the history, culture and tradition of the past. There are number of people who are owners of enormous wealth having rare textile artifacts which are collected by exploring or inherited over a period of time. These historic artifacts are not accessible to every person in common markets. Therefore these rare collection must be placed at some particular place where all interested people could reach and gain information regarding these artifacts. In the Punjab (India) few gurudwaras offer an opportunity to have a glimpse of various rarest articles to be ever found in the world. In Punjab this collection is placed in the gurudwaras which helps in depicting the culture and history of Punjab. These gurudwaras have an incredibly good collection of textiles and dresses such as costumes and accessories of late gurus of sikhism, Guru Granth Sahib, handkerchiefs and embroidery of Punjab that is Phulkari. The present study was undertaken to learn about various types of textile antiquities preserved, display and storage techniques used and conservation & preservation methods employed in various gurudwaras of Punjab.