The Fondation Toms Pauli

Founded and established in Lausanne in 2000, the Fondation Toms Pauli is an institution active in Switzerland and internationally, whose chief mission is to study, preserve and promote the ancient and XXth textile-art collections belonging to the State of Vaud.

The Fondation Tom Pauli’s patrimony is made up of an important collection of sixteenth- to nineteenth-century European tapestries and embroideries bequeathed by Mary Toms in 1993, as well as textile artworks (1954-2011) representative of the Fiber Art movement. The institution is also the successor to the International Centre of Ancient and Modern Tapestry (commonly referred to by its French acronym CITAM), which organised the Lausanne Tapestry Biennials from 1962 to 1995.

In the absence of proprietary exhibition space for displaying its exceptional collections, the Fondation Toms Pauli regularly presented selections of ancient and contemporary textile artworks at exhibitions abroad.

In 2020, after 20 years in the heart of the city, the Fondation Toms Pauli relocated to the new building that houses the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne (MCBA), designed by the architects Barozzi and Veiga. Its administrative offices have been moved there as well as the cantonal collections of 16th- 20th-century tapestries, the specialised library and the artistic archives of the CITAM. Library and archives

The public will have the chance to discover the collections preserved and cared for by the Fondation at temporary exhibitions organised at PLATEFORME 10, the new arts district of Lausanne or abroad. Apart from these specific events, the works will not be on view in the MCBA's permanent exhibition rooms.