AP PHOTOS: Spanish tapestry factory, once home to Goya, is still weaving 300 years after it opened
Spain’s Royal Tapestry Factory has been decorating the walls and floors of palaces and institutions for more than 300 years.
Located on a quiet, leafy street in central Madrid, its artisans work with painstaking focus on tapestries, carpets and heraldic banners, combining the long wisdom of the craft with new techniques.
The factory was opened in 1721 by Spain’s King Felipe V. He brought in Catholic craftsmen from Flanders, which had been part of Spain’s empire, to get it started.
Threads and wool of all colors, bobbins, tools and spinning wheels are everywhere. Some of the original wooden machines are still in use.
The general director, Alejandro Klecker de Elizalde, is proud of the factory's sustainable nature.
“Here the only products we work with are silk, wool, jute, cotton, linen,” he said. “And these small leftovers that we create, the water from the dyes, or the small pieces of wool, everything is recycled, everything has a double, a second use.”
The factory also restores...