Sliven is known as the center of textile production and the cradle of the industrial revolution in Bulgaria. The Museum of the Textile Industry is one of a kind and only here you can attend live demonstrations of industrial textile machinery with audience participation. The exposition traces the development of textile crafts from 9,000 years ago to the present day.
Opening hours: from Monday to Friday
summer: 8.30 – 12.30; 13.00 – 17.00
winter: 8.00 – 12.30; 13.00 – 16.30
On all weekends – by prior request
Dobri Zhelyazkov and the first textile factory in Bulgaria
Dobri Zhelyazkov was the first Bulgarian industrialist and creator of the first factory in the Balkans on Bulgarian soil even before the Liberation. His story is very curious. He was born in 1800 in Sliven. At the age of 9, he became an orphan and was forced to sell pretzels in the Sliven market. It was there that his interest in cloth production and trade began, as coarse woolen cloth produced in the region was sold on the market. When he was 28 years old, he was forced to go to Russia, where he lived with his wife for 5 years. During this time he bought fabrics from Russian factories and sold them in Europe, seeing for the first time a flying shuttle loom in a factory.
He decided to purchase such looms and start production in his hometown. He was finally able to return to Sliven. The Russian authorities forbid him to export this technology, but Zhelyazkov did not surrender. He sketched the looms, took them apart and hid the metal parts in large sacks of wool. In this way, he transported them to Burgas by ship, after which he created the first factory not only in Bulgaria, but also on the Balkan Peninsula.The factory was housed in the yard of his wife’s house and had 6 flying shuttle looms and 2 machines with 20 spindles each. No one has seen such machines on our lands.
Patronage of the Sultan
For two years, Dobri Zhelyazkov worked tirelessly. The fabrics he produced were of European quality, but cheaper. This gave him reason to go to Constantinopole and meet the Sultan. Mahmud the Second was very impressed by his work and granted him two million gold grosh. They made a deal. Dobri Zhelyazkov had to build the State Cloth Factory in Sliven, to manage it and produce the fabrics, and the Ottoman government bought them at a certain price – 20 grosh for one arshin (70 cm of cloth approximately).
The fabricator, as he was called, enjoyed the patronage of the Sultan and many privileges that provoked the envy of the local authorities. Mahmud II gave him golden scissors and a golden meter as a gift and issued a firman stating that no one should collect taxes from him for the rest of his life. After the death of his patron, the entrepreneur fell into disgrace. He was made redundant, fell ill with rheumatism and died in poverty. Despite the great ups and downs, Dobri Zhelyazkov remained a mark in Bulgarian history as the first industrialist in our lands.
The jacquard loom is a prototype of the computer
In the Museum of the Textile Industry in Sliven, you can see both weaving looms with a flying shuttle, such as the ones Dobri Zhelyazkov brought to Bulgaria, as well as another invention that is important not only for textile production, but also for the development of computer technology. This invention was created by the French silk weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard. In 1801 he introduced the jacquard loom by weaving his own portrait. An enviable speed of weaving and much greater complexity of patterns is achieved on this machine. That’s why we can weave anything we can draw – from a landscape to a portrait.
The jacquard loom is considered the world’s first program and the prototype of the computer. It uses a sequence of punch cards to set different patterns. The holes in the punched cards are read by a sequence of pins in the machine. Each time the shuttle passes through the loom, they inform the apparatus which threads should rise and form figures on the canvas, and which threads should stay down and form the background. These punch cards are very reminiscent of computer punch cards from the dawn of computing.
Another curious fact is that expressions like system bug and sabotage that we use in our daily life originated from the textile industry. A bug in the system most likely comes from jacquard fabrics. If a bug got stuck in the hole, the needle couldn’t go through and made a mistake on the canvas. On the other hand, the word sabotage is related to the discontent of the workers in England and France after the appearance of each new invention. They were annoyed when their colleagues worked with newer technologies and worked faster and better. That is why they blocked the looms with their wooden clogs – ,,le sabot” in French.
The dangers of machine textile production
A few years after Liberation, Bulgaria very quickly transformed from an agrarian to an industrial country. The governments of the time took a number of measures to promote local production, obliging everyone – from students to MPs – to wear uniforms produced in Bulgarian factories. If someone wanted to build a factory, the state gave him a plot of land free of charge. The machines were imported from Europe without excise duty, which made them cheaper by about 4%.
Economic growth has come at the cost of very harsh and dangerous working conditions for workers – working with giant machines that constantly make loud noise, pollute with dust and are harmful to health. There were many wounded and even killed employees during production. In the 25s of the 20th century, students in Bulgaria studied up to the third grade, graduated and started working in factories. They walked over 10 km a day to service the textile machines. Industrialists exploited them as they could get away with paying them less.
Creative workshops
The Museum of the Textile Industry in Sliven organizes creative workshops on weaving, textile printing, silk, knitting chains and others for students, adults and persons with special needs. A museum specialist introduces the participants to the history and technology of the relevant applied technique and provides all the necessary materials and tools. Participants are tasked with creating a work of art by applying what they have learned. The workshops can be held not only on the territory of the museum, but also, by prior request, outdoors, in a classroom or a kindergarten.
If you are planning a trip to Sliven, you should also check out Tuida Fortress in Sliven – immerse yourself in the Middle Ages.
You can watch the full video from the tour in the Museum of Textile Industry below with EN subtitles when you press on the button for subtitles.