Tiraz Centre

Tiraz Centre is a museum of Arab costume in Jabal Amman, known in full as Tiraz: Widad Kawar Home for Arab Dress. It houses the Widad Kawar Collection, more than 2,000 costumes and weavings from Palestine, Jordan and other Arab countries, made across the 19th and 20th centuries.

The collection was assembled over some fifty years by Widad Kawar, who was born in Tulkarem and later moved to Amman. Alongside wedding and everyday dress for women, men and children, it holds head veils, jewellery, amulets, household objects and religious robes. Some garments are worked in gold and silver-plated thread.

Tiraz shows its holdings in changing displays and lends pieces abroad. Recent borrowers include Kettle's Yard in Cambridge and the Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid, and earlier ones the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. It also runs embroidery workshops, an education programme and an archive built from research and oral testimony. The centre opens to visitors three days a week.