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THE
SLOVAKIA ROUTE (Start
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Leading project partner: Academy of Art
and Design, Bratislava; Ms Cisárová-Mináriková,
Head of the Textile Art Studio The knights' journeys during the Middle Ages, in the 14th and 15th centuries, resulted in a flourishing new craft for men - court embroidery. Embroiderers formed guilds in Bratislava, Banká Bystrica und Kosice. They produced decorative embroideries for secular occasions. Ecclesiastical embroideries were made in 14th and 15th century nunneries. Above all, the nuns worked to create the furnishings of the churches located in the rich mining towns of central and eastern Slovakia (Spis region). They made splendid Gothic parements embroidered with scenes of the saints' lives. The backgrounds fabrics they used were precious Venetian damasks, velvets and brocades. Today such works may be admired in the museums of Levoca, Kosice and Bardejov. A special fabric produced in the 14th and 15th centuries was bakachin, a type of linen woven on the loom that was found not only in bourgeois Bardejov households but was also widely used, either to make towels, bedcovers and tablecloths or for various ecclesiastical purposes, in all of what was then Hungary. From the 16th century onwards white lace became popular. Miners' wives produced such lace at home. At the same time farmers made coloured lace for their costumes and home furnishings. The Museum of Ethnography in Martin owns 37,000 folk costumes from all over Slovakia. A collection of liturgical vestments, antependia and ceremonial flags made by Mária Hollósy in the late 19th and early 20th century are now in the municipal collection of the town of Cífer. Located in the castle of Bratislava, the Museum of History (National Museum of Slovakia) preserves bourgeois clothing, interior textiles and tapestries dating from the 17th to 20th centuries. Tapestries and draft designs by L'udovít Fulla, an important renewer of the Slovakian crafts, have been compiled in the L'udovít Fulla Gallery in Ruzomberok. In Slovakia, textile training is offered by the Applied Art Colleges of Ruzomberok and Bratislava as well as the Fashion School of Trencin. At university level, the Academy of Art and Design has three textile departments: the textile design department, fashion department and department of free textile art which includes restoration and the study of textile history. One of the first companies to mark the beginning of a modern textile industry was the "twist" factory, established in Bratislava in 1868. In 1880 a weaving school was built in Kezmarok in order to strengthen that craft, then still in existence. In the late 19th century a school equipped with lace-making workshops was added in the town of Kremnica. An embroidery and drawing school was set up in Cífer in 1892 and went on to become the largest educational institution for domestic embroidery in all of Europe, with 17 branches in Western Slovakia. In 1895 the largest cotton mill in the former Austro-Hungarian empire was built in Ruzomberok; its current name is "Texicom". Later production sites for woollen fabrics were established in the northern Slovakian regions of Orava and Liptov, in the towns of Halic and Zilina. Moreover, in Levice there were the "Slovena" carpet factory and "Levitex" cotton printing mill. After the fall of Communism these factories decayed, and smaller production companies were established in their stead. In 1991 the fashion designer, Danica Vodava set up the "Dana Voda" studio and workshop for woven fashion. Established in Bratislava in 1997, the Association of Textile Artists runs a workshop and studio for needlefelt wall hangings. The studio, called "Arttex", produces hangings from the Association's owns designs. Textile Contact Point (TCP) Vysoká skola vytvarnych umeni (VSVU) Hviezdoslavovo nám. 18 SK-81437 Bratislava 1 http://www.vsvu.sk |
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 Bratislava Castle, home of the Slovak National Museum  Bardejov Town Hall (1505-1511), now Museum of Saris |
