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alypto. The impact that these stereotypes have
had on the broader public has led to a failure to
understand the reality of the daily lives of the
pre-conquest Andean indigenous peoples: how
they lived, what they ate, and how they dressed.
It is precisely this lack of knowledge that the
Musée Royal d’Art et d’Histoire (formerly the
Musée du Cinquantenaire) in Brussels is hoping
to remedy this autumn as it lifts the curtain on
its exhibition titled Inca Dress Code: Textiles
and Adornment of the Andes, which is concurrently
dedicated to Inca weavings and to the
broader evolution of Andean textiles from the
earliest times to the present.
CONTEXT
The fi rst traces of textiles preserved in the Andes
appear around 4500 BC and are almost all from the
funerary environments in which they accompanied
the deceased. Bodies laid to rest in tombs traditionally
were wrapped in many layers of textiles, clothing,
and mantos.3 The arid climate along the Andean
Pacifi c Coast made it possible for these textiles
to survive for remarkably extended periods of time.
These Andean “mummies” are found in funerary
bundles called fardos, in which the body is doubled
FEATURE