Industrial Culture in Wuppertal

In the old industrial city of Wuppertal, committed people have always come together to collect and display documents and objects from industrial history and/or demonstrate the old production methods. On the local ribbon and braiding industry alone - formerly known as the "Barmer Articles" - there are three other living museums in addition to the Museum of Early Industrialisation. Touristic sights and historical places of learning have also been established on the tool industry, lime extraction, transport history, cooperatives and school history.


Bandweberei and Museum Kafka by c.pauli

With its elaborate patterns, jacquard weaving is considered the "supreme discipline of the art of weaving". Even today, the ribbon weaving mill Kafka by c.pauli produces high-quality jacquard ribbons, labels and initials using traditional methods. For over 100 years, the 25 jacquard looms have rattled and rattled about. Preserving the old craft of weaving and making it accessible to the public is close to the company's heart. The Kafka ribbon weaving mill will therefore continue to open its doors to visitors as a living testimony to Wuppertal's industrial culture. You can find out when this will happen on the homepage www.baenderei-kafka.de Guided tours of the ribbon weaving mill are available on request.

Addresse and contact
c. Pauli GmbH
Bandweberei und Museum Kafka
Öhder Straße 47 und 49
42289 Wuppertal

E-Mail: museum-kafka@c-pauli.de

Homepage
www.baenderei-kafka.de

 


Förderverein Bandwebermuseum

In 1990, the Förderverein Bandwebermuseum e.V. was founded to support the work of the Ribbon Weaving Museum. The annual general meeting is the forum to take stock, to shed light on the situation and to present and discuss planned expenditure and projects. New members - whether companies, professionals or lay people - are very welcome.

The permanent exhibition covers over 100 years of ribbon weaving and belt turning with working looms, belt tables and other machines, old and new products, documents, models and much more. The centrepiece of the exhibition is the old-style house ribbon weaver's room, which illustrates the life of a ribbon weaving family in the first quarter of the 20th century. The past and the present meet in the Ribbon Weaver Museum. The specific functioning machines and equipment and the diverse products are embedded in an ambience that is stimulating for laymen and experts alike.

Homepage 
https://bandwebermuseum-wuppertal.de/

 


Bandwirkermuseum Ronsdorf

The aim of the Ronsdorf local history and citizens' association is to preserve for posterity in a museum the important trade of ribbon weavers in Ronsdorf. In 1989, a group of former ribbon weavers under the initiator Josua Halbach formed the "Ribbon Weaver Museum Working Group". It is thanks to Josua Halbach (born 1912), himself a long-time home belt weaver, that, with the support of the city of Wuppertal Ronsdorf, a belt weaver museum could be set up at the historic site of the "former Prussian belt weaver school" (popularly known as the "Fachschule") under the auspices of the Ronsdorf local history and citizens' association.

The technical development of the ribbon industry is shown, from the hand-operated mill loom (around 1836) to the electrically operated ribbon and jacquard loom to the modern automatic needle machine. All the devices are driven by transmissions. Winches and winding machines as well as warping reels give a complete picture of the domestic ribbon industry. The production of reeds is demonstrated on the basis of samples, the production of warp bobbins in patterns and the beating and lacing of jacquard cards.  Numerous reference books on the ribbon weaving industry and video tapes show the work of ribbon weaving. An extensive ribbon sample show completes the collection in the ribbon weaving museum.   

Address and contact
Bandwirkermuseum Ronsdorf
Remscheider Straße 50
42369 Wuppertal (keine Postanschrift) 

Tel.: 0202 / 563-7222 (AB)
Ansprechpartner: Walter Abram, Telefon 0202 / 467615

E-Mail: mail@bandwirkermuseum-ronsdorf.de

Homepage
www.hub-ronsdorf.de

Öffnungszeiten
Mittwochs, 17:00 Uhr bis 18:00 Uhr oder nach Vereinbarung.


Barmer Bergbahn e.V.

The Barmer Bergbahn e.V. association was founded in 2009, the 50th anniversary of the closure of Germany's first electric rack railway in Wuppertal. From 1894 to 1959, it connected the city centre of Barmen with the Toelle Tower on the southern heights over a distance of 1.6 km. The Bergbahnverein is endeavouring to initiate a new construction of the railway according to the historical model, for which the planning study for the revival of the Barmer Bergbahn 2015 was prepared at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal. In addition, the remaining traces of the cogwheel railway in the cityscape are to be secured and maintained. Another project is the recovery of the last carriage body of the mountain railway, which was buried in the zoo grounds in 1962 during the filling of a slope.

Address and contact
Barmer Bergbahn e. V.
Postfach 10 05 32
42005 Wuppertal

E-Mail: info(at)bergbahn-barmen.de

Homepage
https://www.bergbahn-barmen.de/


Konsumgenossenschaft Vorwärts e.V.

There are few places in the city where a similar variety of aspects of the city's history can be traced as in the building complex of the former consumer cooperative "Vorwärts" in Barmen: Founded in 1899, its members saw themselves as part of the then important workers' movement in the valley. The National Socialists handed the complex over to the SA in 1933, which detained and tortured political opponents here before the Kemna concentration camp was set up. Finally, parts of the building served as Wehrmacht barracks from 1936 onwards, and from the end of the Second World War until 2018 it was repeatedly used as a place for refugees to live. We guide individual visitors and groups, including school classes, who can experience history on site, through our exhibition, the rooms of the former large bakery or to the railway tracks in the basement, which can still be seen here today.

Location address
Ehemalige Konsumgenossenschaft Vorwärts
Münzstraße 51-53
42281 Wuppertal

Contact
Wolfgang Ebert (chair)
Vogelsangstraße 77
42109 Wuppertal

E-Mail: ebert.wuppertal@web․de or vorstand.fv.vorwaerts@outlook․de

Homepage
http://www.vorwaerts-muenzstrasse.de/

 


Förderverein Manuelskotten e.V.

With the Manauelskotten, the city of Wuppertal owns a special kind of industrial history monument. The friends of the Manuelskotten organise the exhibition, operation and maintenance of this industrial monument. Nestled in the narrow valley of the Kaltenbach, the Kotten is halfway between Cronenberg and Kohlfurth. Today, the Manuelskotten is not only the last waterwheel-driven facility on this stream, but in the entire urban area of Wuppertal. The various types of drive that are gathered under its roof also make it unique in the entire region. With its waterwheel, steam engine, diesel engine, generator and electric motor, it provides an overview of the history of energy generation since the Middle Ages. The Manuelskotten is still used for commercial grinding and sharpening today. Due to the largely unchanged technology and minimal interventions in the surroundings of the Kotten, an authentic situation can be presented precisely because of this.

Address und contact
Förderverein Manuelskotten e.V.
Reinhard Grätz
Am Langen Bruch 25
42111 Wuppertal

Homepage
https://www.manuelskotten.de


Stiftung Regionale Verkehrsgeschichte

The Regional Transport History Foundation has been dealing with the history of local transport in Wuppertal, but also in other regions, for more than 10 years. It operates several historic buses that are used for city tours from April to October. The foundation finances and operates a passenger-carrying children's railway at Wuppertal Zoo for young guests of the zoo. The proceeds are used and donated exclusively to support charitable institutions for children and young people.

The Foundation's vintage buses are lovingly maintained and cared for by the WSW's Transport History Working Group (VhAg). In addition, the foundation owns extensive archives of many transport photographers.

Address and contact
Stiftung Regionale Verkehrsgeschichte
Postfach 20 18 51
42218 Wuppertal

E-Mail: info@srvg.de

Homepage 
www.srvg.de
 

 

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