Museum of Industrial Heritage

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description

Bologna became a leading silk producer starting in the 15^th century thanks to technological and process innovations that brought it to prominence on international markets. This section focuses on these innovations and on the organization of production in general through dioramas, exhibits, scale models and audio-video installations.

The centerpiece of the section is a functioning 1:2 scale model of a Bolognese silk mill rebuilt by Museum technicians to breathe life into the memory of an extraordinary machine that disappeared in the 19^th century. At the height of the silk industry in Bologna, over 100 of these machines were in use, representing the acme of European technology prior to the Industrial Revolution proper.

The silk production process took place within the city walls in the hands of merchant-entrepreneurs. Negotiations for the purchase of silk cocoons took place in what is now Piazza Galvani. The process was a multi-stage affair involving different facilities, people and methods: filament reeling, in which the cocoons were unwound; silk throwing, in which the filaments were twisted and wound onto bobbins; the weaving done at home by hundreds of women; and the fabric finishing in artisans’ workshops.

Alongside the organization of the silk production chain, the section also illustrates the unique characteristics of the artificial water distribution system that traces its origin to the 12^th century. The system is composed of locks (on the Rhine and Savena Rivers), canals (Reno, Savena, Moline and Navile) and underground conduits known as chiaviche that extended the water network to many zones of the city.

The availability of water, united with the level of technology attained by the silk mills, allowed the city—which was not otherwise endowed with significant natural watercourses or an outlet to the sea—to play a leadership role in European proto-industry and international trade for over four centuries. Downstream of the city, after the water had been used to power the mills, a port on the Navile Canal took goods and passengers down to the Po River and on to Venice. Managed and perfected over the centuries with great farsightedness by the city administration, this system continued to provide for the city’s needs into the early 20^th century.