Zprávy památkové péče 2018, 78(3):217-224 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2018.3.05

The Krnov pattern design workshop and its fire. Redefining a national cultural heritage property

Michaela Ryšková

NPÚ, GnŘ

The premises of the former Larisch company in Krnov are one of the most important heritage properties of the local textile tradition. In addition to the buildings from different eras and constructions, the textile pattern design workshop of the Karnola national enterprise, founded in the 1950s, has also been preserved. Its completeness and high degree of the environment's authenticity is exceptionally unique, consisting of a set of machines, the essential mobiliary, and an extensive archive. Selected buildings within the premises and the machine equipment of the workshop gained heritage protection status in 2003, and in 2010 the facility was recognized as a national cultural heritage property.
After the collapse of the Karnola enterprise, a new use was sought for the premises. The southern part with the pattern design workshop was obtained by the town with the intention of building a museum and a cultural and social center. The project received support under the IROP program, and realization was to begin in January 2018. On 20 December 2017, the workshop was set on fire. Machines were damaged, most design books were destroyed, and the modern documentation of the workshop and much equipment were lost.
Subsequent cleaning took place in January 2018. Individual parts of the mobiliary were numbered and documented. The machines were carefully cleaned. The debris was sorted through, and found fragments were registered and stored. Patterns, written materials, pattern cards, and any materials that were not completely destroyed were recorded, packaged, and deep frozen. Two assessments of the conditions of the machines were carried out together with subsequent proposals for their renovation (including an estimation of the financial difficulties), ranging from preservation to possibly putting them into operation (for the simpler devices).
Heritage care is now faced with the challenge of newly defining certain values. The historical, architectural, and urbanistic values were not significantly affected by the fire. The value of the pattern design workshop, the area most affected by the fire, was now subject to revision. Even though such a workshop was a regular part of any textile factory, each workshop was specific. From a typological point of view, the Krnov workshop (even despite the fire) is an example of a unique operation that, at the same time, represents the general procedures of wool patterning. It cannot be assumed that a similar workshop would be preserved elsewhere in the country. As far as the technical value of the individual machines is concerned, the value of the collection preserved in situ outweighs this former value in that it presents the key progressive steps on the way from woolen yarn to fabric. This integrity has also been preserved. The different meanings of the individual features may find a reflection in the chosen approach to their renovation. When emphasis is placed on the authenticity of function, the possibility of completing the set with similar functional devices arises. On the other hand, this would clearly result in fatal damage to the authenticity. The concept of presenting a workshop in the condition that it was in on its last working day must be abandoned.
The question of how to further deal with the items which are not protected by the monument and which rather bear the nature of a museum collection is also a difficult one. This is an extensive collection of more or less fragmentally preserved pattern cards and papers. Most attention falls on the fate of the collection of design books from the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. The written material accompanying the post-war production of the workshop, however, are a no less valuable part of the collection. The liquidation of the pattern design workshop of the closed enterprises went hand-in-hand with the uncompromising destruction of this layer of archival materials, undervalued for their "insufficient age" and as a natural part of the communist large-scale production era. Clearly, no such modern documentation of a similar extent and complexity has been preserved anywhere. This fact should be taken into account when determining the priorities for selection, preservation, and restoration.

Keywords: Krnov pattern design workshop, national cultural heritage property, cultural heritage property fire, definition of heritage values

Published: September 1, 2018  Show citation