ST GALLEN TEXTILE MUSEUM
Embroidery and Lace in Switzerland
The Swiss
city of St. Gallen, named after a Irish monk who established his monastery
near Lake Constance, is probably best known by tourists
for its justly famous spectacular baroque library and abbey (see St
Gallen Abbey Library), but for students of clothing and fashion design rather
than architecture, St Gallen is perhaps more important for its textile
history. Hand made woolen cloth and intricate embroidery became an industry
of the monks of St Gallen as early as the 15th century, turning the little
city into a major trade center of the middle-ages and reaching its height
in the 16th and 17th Century, when every cavalier’s coat was decorated
with lace and royal princesses where wrapped in delicate embroidery,
much of it from Switzerland.
The 1800s
brought an industrial boom when the first embroidery machines were
developed
in St Gallen and by the early 20th Century, St Gallen
produced more than half of the world’s lace. One fifth the regions
population worked in the textile industry. World wars and the Great depression
took a toll on the industry, but St. Gallen today still provides some
of the world’s highest quality embroidery and lace, highly prized
by designers of Haute Couture featured on the runways of Paris and New
York.
The St Gallen
Textile Museum was founded in 1878 to promote the textile industry.
Located
in the center of St Gallen, in a four story building
of red brick, giving it the name “Palazzo Rosso”, for any
student of fashion or just the casual lover of clothes and admirers of
design, the St Gallen Textile Museum is a must for visitors to the region.
The museum collection of nearly 30,000 objects, displaying in revolving
exhibitions follows the history of cloth from the tissues Egyptian tombs,
historical embroidery since the 14th Century, to modern high tech sports
gear special fabrics from ski racers, Olympic wear, swimsuits to sky
diver wing suits. Wander among wall panels of European hand-made lace,
an extensive collection of pattern books, fashion drawings and photographs,
costumes, historic fabrics and documentary history of the development
of the embroidery industry. Contemporary textile artists display modern
design in the stairwells between the historic exhibits.
Visiting Textile Museum St Gallen
The St Gallen
Textile Museum on Vadianstrasse is a few blocks from the St Gallen
main train station, near the city fountain on Oberer Graben.
The museum is open 10 am to 5 pm daily. Admission is 12 chf for Adults,
Seniors 10 CHF, Students 5 CHF, and children under 16 are free. Museum admission is free
with a Swiss Pass (see Swiss
Rail Pass) or Museum
Pass. Special tours with the curator for professionals can be arranged. © Bargain
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SEE
ALSO:
NAPOLEON III MUSEUM SCHLOSS ARENENBERG
FLIGHT MUSEUM ALTENRHEIN-ST GALLEN
ROSENGART
COLLECTION PICASSO - LUCERNE
