I must confess I have little use for fashion or home décor (much to my wife’s dismay occasionally). So a textile museum is not high on my list. In Istanbul I skipped the Turkish carpet museum.

In Erbil I went to the Kurdish Textile Museum, not because I was trying to salvage a visit to Erbil Citadel that had been disappointing. The only building inside the Citadel walls that was open to the public was the Textile Museum, and admission was only 3,000 dinars, which works out to about four Canadian dollars. At that price I was willing to take the risk.

I enjoyed the visit. Having seen Turkish carpets in Istanbul I had a preconception of what I was going to see. That preconception wasn’t accurate.

I had expected intricately woven carpets with a lot of browns and darker colours. That is what I had seen in Istanbul, where it seems every second person on the street wanted to sell me a carpet, free shipping included. (Not surprising shipping is free when a small carpet can cost a couple of thousand dollars.)

Kurdish textiles are different. Much brighter colours, lots of yellows and reds. The rugs didn’t seem quite as intricate as the Turkish ones (which can have a million knots in one carpet), but perhaps the carpets on display in the museum show the real thing, not something crafted for the tourist market. My guess is that if you needed a carpet you weren’t going to spend a couple of years creating a masterpiece.

While primarily about carpets, the Kurdish Textile Museum also gives a glimpse into clothing and culture.

When I travel I like to learn. Actually I like to learn when I am not traveling too. I think that is why I was disappointed with Erbil Citadel – I really didn’t learn anything about the place in my visit there. The Kurdish Textile Museum at least made up for some of that disappointment.