LVR-Industriemuseum/Tuchfabrik Müller
Euskirchen
A recipe for a dyeing solution is written in chalk on a door, an old coffee pot is standing around waiting for its owner, heaps of handwritten notes lie colourfully jumbled on a table - you think that in the Müller cloth factory the workers have only disappeared for a short while and will come right back through the door to continue spinning threads and weaving fabrics. In fact, the Müller cloth factory closed its doors in 1961 and the factory fell into a Sleeping Beauty slumber. Factory owner Kurt Müller hoped to restart his cloth-making machines, but this hope was not fulfilled - for visitors to the LVR Industrial Museum today, this is a stroke of luck, as they are given an unusual insight into cloth production.
The LVR Industrial Museum / Tuchfabrik Müller can only be visited on regular guided tours. It is a small journey into the recent past, when cloth production was a major industry in Euskirchen. The machines and tools are still there where they were once installed and laid down. The guides tell about the technology of the machines, about dyeing and spinning yarn. And then the looms start working. The shuttles whiz back and forth and fine cloth is made from loose wool.
Films, small installations and models illustrate the fascinating world of the factory, they tell of the work, heat and steam in the dye works. The Müller cloth factory is an example of the heyday and decline of the Rhenish woollen cloth industry. At the end of the 1950s, the cloth factory - like many other small woollen cloth manufacturers - came under competitive pressure. Italian manufacturers supplied cheaper goods made of shredded wool, and the factory was forced to close in 1961.
There are changing exhibitions in the entrance area, hands-on activities for children and regular "Steam Sundays" when the steam engine from 1903 is put into operation.
