Museo de Arte Indígena ASUR

The Museo de Arte Indígena ASUR in Sucre, Bolivia, focuses on the textile traditions of the Jalq’a and Tarabuco cultures, featuring exhibitions of traditional weavings and live demonstrations by indigenous artisans.

Planning your visit

ASUR exists to keep two weaving traditions alive, and it has largely succeeded. The Jalq'a and Tarabuco peoples of highland Bolivia produce textiles of extraordinary complexity, and by the 1980s both traditions were collapsing as designs were simplified for tourist sale.

The organisation researched historic pieces, worked with communities to recover lost techniques and iconography, and created a market for full-quality work. The museum displays the results alongside historic textiles, explaining the visual languages: Jalq'a weavings are dark red and black, filled with khurus — chaotic dream animals of an underworld, asymmetrical and disturbing — while Tarabuco textiles are ordered, brightly striped and depict agricultural and ceremonial scenes from the world above.

Weavers work on site, and the difference between a piece taking weeks and one taking months is visible immediately.

Sales support the communities directly, which is unusually well documented here.

Sucre is Bolivia's constitutional capital and a UNESCO-listed white colonial city.

Bookable options include private city tours incorporating the museum. Current availability is listed below.