Heimatmuseum - Galerie im Untertor - in Monreal

For four centuries it shaped Monreal. Now you can immerse yourself in his story: the craft of cloth making comes to life again in the exhibition in the "Gallery in the Untertor".

Museum of local history and cloth making in Monreal. For four centuries it shaped Monreal. Now you can immerse yourself in his story: the craft of cloth making comes to life again in the exhibition in the "Gallery in the Untertor".

 There Mara Fuhrmann and Udo Höcke present more than 50 exhibits dedicated to the ancient craft. The show with its high-profile credentials should help to preserve the memory of this tradition.

The Monrealer cloth was very well known. It was offered at markets and fairs in the past centuries. Representatives traveled to tailors and retailers across the country - until the time when the Monrealer cloth weavers could no longer stand up to the competition of the large textile factories from the Rhineland.

For more than a year, Fuhrmann and Höcke have researched and prepared the exhibition. It is intended to give viewers an exact idea and a vivid picture of this (almost) extinct craft. The two photographers illustrate the cloth making from the first beginnings in the late Middle Ages with the founding of the Wollweber Brotherhood in 1471 until the 20th century. "The time and space is set wide, embedded in the economic environment of the Eifel, from the Habsburgs to the Second German Empire," says Fuhrmann.

Without the numerous loans from various museums and private individuals, the extensive presentation could not represent the production process of cloth making in such a complete and comprehensible manner. Ingrid Stanic from Monreal contributed the legacy of her mother Elisabeth Gerhards, the spinning wheel and her costume, to set up the spinning room.

The centerpiece of the exhibition space is a large loom, which Marksburg lends out on loan. Höcke: "Without the support of the Marksburg the representation of the Eifel weaving room would not have been possible." Such a loom had brought the Monrealern a modest prosperity, and its further development took everything back.

The technical changes due to industrialization are also presented. In line with this, the exhibition will be supplemented with photos and many wool patterns from a wide variety of work processes. These insights are made possible by the Rheinische Industriemuseum with loans from the former Tuchfabrik Müller from Euskirchen. Fuhrmann and Höcke have also taken into consideration the fate of the Weber families in the Thirty Years' War. These had lost their livelihoods when the village was destroyed.

In addition to the exhibition "Tuchmacherei", other exhibitions in the gallery include the exhibitions "Monreal in Paintings", "Monreale Fritz Meurer" and "Monreal's History" in the Karl Müller Room.

Information on the Internet at:

https://www.glanzlichter.com/Galerie-im-Untertor.cfm

and by phone: 02651/6764.