Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWMWhether delicate embroidery or large-format tapestries, historical textiles are treasures from the past and, at the same time, a challenge for restoration and research. In the EU project »TEXTaiLES«, state-of-the-art technologies meet centuries-old cultural heritage: AI, robotics, 3D scans, and physical simulations enable digital recording, analysis, and virtual restoration. The results will benefit museums, conservators, and researchers across Europe in the form of a modular software toolkit. Our team provides the mathematics and physics behind the digital fabrics – for realistic motion analysis, precise drapery simulations, and sustainable conservation.
Digital Twins Instead of Fabric Samples: How Artificial Intelligence Preserves Cultural Heritage
How can antique fabrics be restored without touching them? Or how can an opera costume be loaned halfway around the world – without customs duties or CO₂ emissions? The EU project »TEXTaiLES« is developing tools for the digitization and virtual reconstruction of historical textiles. Our simulations analyze drapery, structure, and movement – and make the invisible visible.
Using Artificial Intelligence to Explore the Past: AI-Supported Digitization and Simulation of Historical Textiles
EU-Project »TEXTaiLES«: Preserving and researching textile cultural heritage digitally
Our Contribution as Fraunhofer ITWM: Textile Simulation with Physical Precision
Our Technical Textiles team is contributing its expertise in the dynamic simulation of textile materials to the project. The aim is to replicate realistic deformations of garments – including drapery, folds, and the influence of seams.
A particular focus is on determining the mechanical properties of historical yarns and fabric fragments. Unlike many project partners, we do not rely on artificial intelligence, but on classic numerical methods such as finite element models and continuous material descriptions.
These physically based simulations are essential for bringing historical textiles to life digitally – for example, for virtual exhibitions, restoration planning, or recreating original movement states.
Practical Application Examples
In the »TEXTaiLES« project, we develop new technologies and put them directly into practice – in museums, archives, and research institutions across Europe. These examples show how artificial intelligence, simulation, and innovative imaging help to visualize, analyze, and digitally preserve historical textile cultural heritage.
Textile Prints
Textile Impressions on Bronze Age Clay Seals
Comparison of measured and simulated force-elongation behavior considering uncertainties in model parameters. This analysis contributes to the prediction of tensile behavior and ultimate strength by evaluating the influence of parameter uncertainties. The box plots indicate the 1st and 3rd quartile of datapoints, while the orange line indicates the median value in the simulation.
Modern casts of clay seals from the Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age (approx. 2650–1200 BC) found in Greece bear fine impressions of textiles and organic materials. These impressions, which are stored in the CMS Archive Heidelberg (Corpus of Minoan and Mycenaean Seals (CMS)), provide valuable clues about historical thread production and utilized raw fiber materials. In this project, researchers are digitally examining these traces to gain a better understanding of Bronze Age textile technology. Our research focus is on the prediction of tensile behavior and ultimate strength under consideration of uncertainty in model parameters.
Plasticine cast of the underside of a Bronze Age clay sealing with a cord from Lerna, Greece
Experimental imprint of a thread made of spliced flax fibers
Experimentally drilled bast cord
Ancient Textiles
Ancient Textiles from Greece
Textile finds from various regions of Greece, dating from the 10th century BC to the 11th century AD, are mostly highly fragmented, mineralized, and extremely fragile. They often consist of several types of fabric and are decorated with shiny gold threads. Their damaged structure makes aesthetic and technological analysis difficult. The project aims to create a detailed virtual reconstruction of these complex fabric forms using contactless digitization.
Ancient and historical textiles from greece
Surface reconstruction of twill woven sample from scanning
Deformed mechanical digital twin of twill woven under bending load
Stage Costumes
Stage Costumes from the Rome Opera Archive
Feathers, metal threads, sequins – the elaborately designed costumes of world-famous opera and ballet stars from the 19th century to the present day also tell the story of art and fashion history. »TEXTaiLES« digitizes the objects in their entirety, documents their construction and design, and then links them to metadata such as performance venue, artist, and date of origin – contributing to long-term digital archiving and research.
A Flexible Toolbox in the ECCCH-Cloud
A modular software toolkit bundles all of the project's digital tools – from 3D viewers to annotation and tissue analysis to AI-supported restoration. Each function can be used as a standalone module and can be flexibly combined or expanded later as needed.
The package is provided via the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH), which means that all applications run securely in the cloud and can be accessed worldwide without installation. This allows museums, restorers, and researchers to work together on the same digital textiles at any time, share results, and easily add new modules.
Our Project Partners:
- Athena Research and Innovation Center in Information Communication Technologies
- Sapienza University of Rome
- Centre for Research and Technology Hellas
- University of Warsaw
- University of Oulu
- TechnAI: Technology Culture and Society
- Nubifucus Ltd
- ACCELIGENCE Ltd
- Textil Museum St. Gallen
Project funded by the Swiss Confederation
Project Funding and Duration
The TEXTaiLES project is funded by the EU program HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH. The project will run for three years (from January 2024 to December 2026) and has a total budget of around €8 million.
Funded by the European Union
Discover the TEXTaiLES Project!
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