NATIONAL
POLYTECHNIC MUSEUM
MUSEUM OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY – SLIVEN
The Museum of Textile Industry in Sliven is the first permanent scientific and technical exhibition in Bulgaria. This specialised industrial museum aims to reveal the significance of textile production in the context of the socio-economic aspects of the Bulgarian economic development; to show the history of textile techniques and technology; to demonstrate the role of Sliven in the industrial development of the country and to present the Bulgarian contribution to the development of the worldwide textiles production.
Visitors are not only spectators – they participate in live demonstrations and have the unique opportunity to test their technical skills.
The museum’s exhibits are grouped into 36
different collections. Some of the biggest include:
textile crafts,
craft products,
instruments and equipment for handmade textiles,
weaving instruments,
knitting machinery,
production,
commercial cartels of various textile companies,
textile education and more.:
The building where the museum is housed is the first textile school in Bulgaria. It was built in 1906 and is a monument of culture.
The permanent exhibition of the museum extends into 8 halls on 2 floors of the building covering a total area of 550 sq.m. It was designed with the intention of presenting the emergence, development and achievements of textile machinery, technology and machine building in each historical era. The distinguishing feature of this particular exhibition is its dynamic nature – demonstrations are conducted in 27 different locations within the museum’s halls. Manual and factory textile production is chronologically presented in this exhibition from the early Neolithic age until the end of the 19th century and from this period up to the 1970s.
Manual production presents devices, techniques and technologies used for domestic, craftsman and manufactured textile production in Bulgaria from the 7th century BC to the end of the 19th century. This narrative begins with distaffs and spindles, explores the primitive forms of weaving - the vertical and comb looms, the 12th century pedal loom and the spinning wheels which emerged during the 16th century. The focus is on the beginning of the industrial revolution in Europe, embodied by John Kay’s invention - the flying shuttle (1733). The figure-weaving loom created by the Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804 shows the first working program developed on the principle of perforation.