Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center’s Tapestries to Go on Display in Berlin

The James-Simon-Galerie in Berlin will host an exhibition of tapestries and batiks from Egypt’s Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center from April 11th to November 2nd, 2025. Presented on the museum’s upper floor, the display is free to the public and brings together pieces from one of Egypt’s most distinctive textile institutions.

Located in Harrania near Cairo, the Wissa Wassef Art Center is known for its unconventional process: artists create tapestries entirely from memory, without preliminary sketches or templates. Using wool and cotton threads dyed with natural materials, they weave impressions of daily life directly onto handmade looms, some over the course of many months.

Prayers to the sun, 1976, Ali Seliem (1948– ), Wool, © Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo, Egypt

The centre’s works have found homes in major museums around the world. The Berlin exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see how landscapes, animals, and routines of rural Egypt are interpreted through these large-scale, labor-intensive textiles.

Founded in the 1950s by architect Ramses Wissa Wassef, the centre was built on the idea that creativity could be taught to children if nurtured early and without rigid instruction

Fishermen's village, 2005, Ali Seliem (1948– ), Wool, © Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo, Egypt

Birds in the garden, 2021, Gehan Rezk, Cotton, © Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo, Egypt

The garden, 2022, Gehan Rezk, Cotton, © Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo, Egypt

Dancing birds, Saiid Ibrahim, Batik, © Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo, Egypt

Felukas on the Nile, Saber Saiid, Batik, © Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo, Egypt

Main Image Credit: Mohamed Alaazon