Weaving the past into the future

Silk played a crucial role in driving progress in Europe, particularly along the network of production and market centres along the Western Silk Road. The silk trade not only facilitated the exchange of ideas and innovations but also had a huge impact on the economic, technical, functional, cultural, and symbolic levels. However, silk heritage has become critically endangered, despite the existence of many specialised European museums dedicated to its preservation. These museums often lack the resources and capacity to utilise state-of-the-art digital technology. The objective of this paper is twofold: to introduce SILKNOW, an interdisciplinary project funded by the H2020 Program of the European Union to preserve and promote the heritage of silk textiles, and to present the project results which were possible thanks to digital humanities.