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THE
SERBIA ROUTE (Start
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Leading project partner: Museum of Vojvodina,
Ms Bratislava Idvorean Stefanovic The textile industry in Serbia developed in a region of poor economic conditions, but rich in wool and hemp. After centuries of Turkish domination and liberation wars, industrialisation in Serbia was able to begin. In this respect it was important to open up the country to European trade. Until the end of 19th century, ready-made industrial products were imported to Serbia, which in turn exported textile raw materials. Because the textile business employed almost exclusively women, who were skilled in weaving, it became a semi-professional cottage industry. The project group of the European Textile Routes has chosen the Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad as the central Textile Contact Point of the Serbian Route. This large regional museum owns historic art and ethnographic textile and costume collections, as well as textile production tools. The permanent exhibition displays textiles in the context of specific events and important personalities of the region. The Textile Museum in Strojkovac is a department of the National Museum in Leskovac and is housed in a former water mill. Built in 1884 on the initiative of local merchants, it became the first factory in Serbia producing decorative woollen cord. Later on, the original rope-making centre at Leskovac grew into a textile industrial centre known as "The Serbian Manchester". Situated on the Via Egnatia, the main ancient trade route between the Adriatic and Aegean Sea, predestined Leskovac to become a famous trading centre. The fertile soil enabled the production of particularly high-quality hemp, and hemp rope became the most important export article. "Leskovac's Fair of Textiles and Textile Machines" was founded in February 1955, and it became an exclusive centre of international trade and business. The textile route cannot leave out Pirot kilims, the best representatives of the Serbian textile tradition. Almost every woman in Pirot, known for centuries as the home of the kilim, was employed in the kilim factory. A society set up in 1886 was made responsible for production. There are no major European fairs where these products are not exhibited, and they are frequently awarded prizes. The museum of the Nisava valley owns the largest collection of such kilims, and it provides information in a permanent exhibition as well as special thematic shows. Another factory, known as "Proleter Rug", was established in Zrenjanin in 1894. "Bezdan's damask" is woven in the "Novitet Dunav" company in Bezdan on eighteen wooden hand jacquard looms made in 1871. The high quality of this pastel-coloured fabric is always admired at fairs and markets. This company owns no modern textile machinery, but represents the characteristic Vojvodina manufacture as it would have existed durin the first decades of the 20th century. The aim of the College of Textile Engineering in Belgrade, which was founded in 1958, is to provide the textile industry with qualified staff. Courses are run by five departments: textile machinery engineering, textile chemistry technology, clothes design, model construction and management. Textile Contact Point (TCP) Muzej Vojvodine Etnolosko Odeljenje Dunavska 35-37 YU-21000 Novi Sad |
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 The Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad |
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