Zprávy památkové péče 2013, 73(3):225-230

The textile industry in Moravia and Silesia - their values and lack of heritage protection in several examples

Michaela Ryšková

The textile industry used to be one of the main industries in the Czech Republic, with the origins of factory production reaching back to the 1840's. The second half of the 19th century saw massive development - a growing number of factory shops, manufacturing enclaves established along rivers and flumes, individual textile centres built, and the face of the cities transformed. Flax prevailed (with the subsequent processing of imported cotton), as did wool. Developments in the 20th century began from these roots, then the turning point came in the 1990's with the gradual disappearance of this sector.
In 2000-2001, as part of ÚOP research in Ostrava, a catalogue was worked up of existing and extinct textile factories for which at least the building fund remained. A total of approximately 260 textile enterprises were mapped out, mainly in Moravia and Silesia. This basic overview provided extensive comparative material. It turned out that even though textile production was an important industrialization factor in many towns and villages, traces of it today are not very evident. On the other hand, many textile centres have maintained their positions, and the textile industry in these places still plays a significant imaginative role. The most important is wool-making Brno, then of the smaller towns of Moravia and Silesia, wool-making Krnov, linen-cotton-making Frýdek-Místek, and flax-making Šumperk, to some extent then the wool-making cities of Fulnek and Jihlava, linen-making Jeseník and wool- and hat-making Nový Jičín. Of these named centres, surveys in Krnov and Frýdek-Místek were primarily carried out in more detail, and the result was the submission of concrete proposals for heritage protection. The values were assessed on several interrelated levels: architectural (classified in the context of typological development; spread or uniqueness of the specific design, local specifics, significance in the image of the city, etc.), technical (preserved technical equipment, preserved traces of drive and transmission designs, etc.), historical (classification and definition of significance in the context of the development of the sector, region, location, headquarters, etc.) and urbanistic. The resulting designs were mostly related to buildings, while proposals to protect technical equipment were the exception (one unique example is the complete furnishings of the showroom workshop in the former cloth factory of A. Larisch in Krnov). The objective was not to conserve the current status and preserve all material evidence, but rather the effort to preserve the historical layers associated with characteristic elements and types, and a balance between the new and the old.
While the chances of declaring buildings and technical equipment as cultural heritage were relatively high around the year 2000, these chances later gradually decreased. In the case of Krnov, heritage protection was successful in many cases, while proposals were unsuccessful in Frýdek-Místek. In addition to the changes in attitude of the Ministry of Culture, other factors mainly include the negative attitudes of the owners, bankruptcy trustees, and the fears of municipal and regional authorities of obstacles to new usage and an exodus of potential investors.
It is necessary, then, to look for ways to change sceptical attitudes. The popularization of heritage values and their protection is essential. The ongoing project of Industrial Heritage in Moravia and Silesia, funded under the NAKI program of applied research and development national and cultural identity (identification code DF12P01OVV039), is primarily focused on the evaluation of long-term NPÚ research in the field of documenting industrial heritage and making these findings public.

Keywords: Moravia, Silesia, textile industry, value, heritage protection

Published: September 1, 2013  Show citation