Machines in motion, technical strokes of genius, revolutions in production – in the “Tuchwerk” you can experience first hand how the textile industry once characterised Aachen.

In 1911, there were 103 cloth factories operating in Aachen. The city was a leading industrial location, with the textile production sector triggering countless innovations in mechanical engineering as well as chemical and dye production. To preserve this legacy, the museum association “Tuchwerk Aachen e.V.” is setting up a fantastic collection of exhibits in the industrial monument “Stockheider Mühle” – an exhibition which transports visitors directly into the daily factory life of bygone decades.

Top-quality material
“At our depot, we use the central machines to explain the many stages wool goes through on its way to becoming fashionable quality cloth,” says Andreas Lorenz, summing up the exhibition. “Over the years, our technicians have managed to activate more and more machines so that we can now set them in motion during our guided tours. This gives visitors a direct and first-hand insight into what the workplaces were like back in the day.” Lorenz, a retired history teacher and active member of the Tuchwerk e.V. board, explains to visitors in a wonderfully detailed and easy-to-follow way how “carding machines”, “willowers” and “cross lappers” function – key technical terms in the textile world of old.
But the exhibition also makes it clear that Aachen’s cloth tradition is still very much alive and kicking. Various businesses and research institutes, for example the RWTH’s Institute of Textile Technology (ITA), the Leibnitz Institute for Interactive Materials (DWI) and the Textile and Flooring Institute (TFI) are all active in the sector and currently very much in the forefront as innovation drivers.

Tuchwerk Soers
Strüverweg 116
52070 Aachen
Tel.: +49 241 45090017
info@tuchwerk-aachen.de
www.tuchwerk-aachen.de
(Guided tours can be arranged by phone or by email.)