LWL-Museum Textilwerk, Technology and textile museum in Bocholt, Germany.
The Bocholt textile museum is housed in two connected buildings spanning the Aa River and displays the machinery and infrastructure from the cotton production era. The site preserves the spaces where spinning and weaving operations once took place, allowing visitors to see how industrial textile work was organized and performed.
The LWL decided in 1984 to found a textile museum in Bocholt; with no suitable existing plant available, a new building was erected and opened in 1989 near Lake Aa. In 2004 the LWL acquired the four-storey brick Herding spinning mill as a second site, renovated from 2009 with Konjunkturpaket II funds and opened in September 2011, when the two sites took the name TextilWerk Bocholt.
The museum maintains the industrial legacy of Munsterland's textile production, which transformed from flax cultivation to cotton processing during the 19th century.
The two sites sit on opposite banks of the Bocholter Aa, linked since late 2018 by the 13-metre-wide Podiumsbrücke. Start at the weaving mill near Lake Aa, then cross to the four-storey Herding spinning mill. The outdoor area with workers' cottages, allotments and the railway track involves walking between separate buildings.
The steam engine in the weaving mill is now driven by electricity during demonstrations, turning transmission belts that set the looms in motion. The resulting noise shows how loud the workshop once was. Some household cloths sold in the shop are woven on these looms.
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