Reconstruction of a weaving mill from the late 19th / 20th century. Presentation of machines in motion
Opening hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - 9.00 a.m. - 4.00 p.m.
Friday- 12.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.
*The exhibition is open also on the chosen Saturdays in hours 12 a.m.-7 p.m.: 11 February, 18 February 2017
The exhibition was created with the ambition to introduce the visitor into the atmosphere and reality of work in a weaving mill in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
The reality - original, technically efficient looms from the last decade of the nineteenth century, as well as ancillary equipment. Looms make fabrics, but before that, winders and weft winders must prepare yarns on bobbins for shuttles. All these 19th century machines are, so far, technically simple. The simpler the machine is, the more actions a man has to perform, and the higher level of skills required to operate it. A weaver should be experienced and attentive, quickly and reliably carrying out various actions - including correcting unpredictable machine errors.
The climate - multilayer, deafening noise and clatter of machinery, as well as the smell of hot grease and of humans. An additional element of the exhibition's set: macro photographs of the great 19th century mill.
Our goal was to recreate the environment of a large multi-department textile factory in Łódź.
The textile industry in Łódź in the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century consisted not only of factories employing thousands of people. These mills had huge weaving rooms with hundreds of looms. What do we have left of these large factories? These massive buildings presently perform an entirely different function, acting as the residents of Lodz' living memory of the lineages of the Geyers, Scheiblers, Grohmans and Poznańskis. Nothing is left of the small mills (there were many of them), which usually failed after a short time of working (in which there was one or two looms powered by locomobile). The slightly larger ones (with a few or over a dozen of looms) likewise suffered and flopped. But this is certain – in both small and large mills the realities of work and the atmosphere were similar.
The presentation of machinery in motion was planned in the 1960s. In those days, without much difficulty, one could get, renovate and run 19th century machinery. However, we did not have the conditions for that. The Central Museum of Textiles was acquiring the White Factory complex slowly. Initially, we were given the oldest wings of entirely wooden construction, weakened by time and the hitherto operation. For conservation reasons, we could not weaken it more with the vibrations caused during machinery operation.
The youngest and most structurally strong wing, after an extensive renovation, was submitted to us only in mid-2008. Unfortunately, conditions had changed and what was not a problem in the 1960s became a great problem before 2010. It was extremely difficult to obtain complete and technically efficient looms and a large reserve of spare parts needed in case of repairs. This further delayed presenting the machinery in motion. Nonetheless, it worked out. We obtained looms manufactured in Lodz - two that dated back to 1889 from Fred Greenwood Mechanical Works, two 1892 looms from the Maschinenfabrik Ruti and one from 1913 from the Factory of Machinery and Iron Foundry of Waldemar Krusche in Pabianice. Additionally, we collected a dobby machine of Müller and Seide Firm from Łódź.
Four of them have a beautiful history of ownership - from "newness" to 1983 they worked in the factories of Scheibler and Grohman (later Uniontex), then several years in a private mill, from where they finally went to the Museum. Already in November 2008, we opened the exhibition, in which we managed to run only a few of the machines so far. At the moment, nine of them work, including four looms, two winders, two weft winders and a large cylindrical crochet machine (so we can show the process of knitwear production). The reconstruction of the mill from the late 19th century is complemented by an exposition of a weaver's chamber typical for the first half of the 19th century. This chamber can be seen in our Open-air Museum of Wooden Architecture.
Senior curator Jan Glowacki
Head of the Department of Textile Techniques
Fot. L. Andrzejewski, A. Ambruszkiewicz
Translation: E.C.
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