LWL-Museum Textilwerk

The LWL-Museum Textilwerk is an industrial and textile museum located in Bocholt, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Operated by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), it is one of eight LWL Museums of Industrial Culture in the region. The museum occupies two sites on opposite banks of the River Bocholter Aa, connected since late 2018 by the 13-metre-wide Podiumsbrücke. Its focus encompasses the technical, social, economic, and cultural dimensions of textile production in the Münsterland, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum serves as an Anchor Point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage, reflecting Bocholt's 450-year history as a significant textile centre.

The museum's origins date to 1984, when the LWL decided to establish a textile museum in Bocholt. Because no suitable historical factory was available, a new weaving mill was constructed according to historical models and opened in 1989 near Lake Aa. In 2004, the LWL acquired the four-storey brick Herding Spinning Mill, built in 1907 to designs by Swiss architects Sequin and Knobel, to serve as a second site. Renovation began in 2009 with funding from the second economic stimulus package, and the spinning mill opened to the public in September 2011. In 2011, the unified name 'TextilWerk Bocholt' was adopted for both sites, and that same year the City Council resolved to develop an 'urban cultural quarter' on both sides of the Bocholter Aa. The permanent exhibition in the weaving mill was revamped in 2018, and the Podiumsbrücke connecting the two sites was completed at the end of 2018.

The museum's collections address all stages of textile production, including spinning (mule and ring spinning), weaving (raw cotton weaving, coloured woven goods, ribbon weaving), and finishing processes (bleaching, dyeing, printing). Additional collection areas encompass knitting, embroidery, ornamental textiles such as ribbons and trimmings, lace, and curtain-making. The museum stores contain complete specialised workshops and extensive holdings of historic pattern books, fabric samples, designs, and drawings. The weaving mill presents a typical workshop from 1900 to 1960, while the spinning mill houses exhibition spaces, meeting areas, and temporary displays. The museum is noted for possessing the largest collection of textile machines in Europe, with some machines dating from 1910 to 1986 and measuring nearly 20 metres in length.

The weaving mill features over 30 looms of various designs spanning 100 years, installed within a hall with shed roofs. A steam engine, now electrically powered for demonstrations, drives transmission belts that operate some of the looms, reproducing both their function and the associated noise. The main building also contains a typical break room and office. The spinning mill's ground floor houses the 'Parcours de la Mode,' a 23-metre-long display case designed as a catwalk, which presents historical garments, shoes, and textile sample books spanning more than 100 years of fashion trends; the oldest piece dates from 1885. Since October 2016, the exhibition 'Die Macher und die Spinnerei' has occupied two floors, presenting the history and work of textile entrepreneurs in Westphalia through exhibits ranging from fountain pens and furniture to paintings, fashion from various decades, and working machinery. The site also includes workers' cottages, workers' allotments with small livestock, a carriage house, and a railway track with a locomotive and turntable.

The museum comprises two distinct architectural complexes. The weaving mill, constructed as a new building in 1989, replicates historical factory architecture and includes a boiler house, machine room, workshop, and office. Its immediate surroundings include the 'Schiffchen' restaurant, a gatehouse, workers' cottages, and sheds. One workers' house may be viewed internally, and the site includes workers' allotments. The Herding spinning mill, acquired in 2004, is a four-storey brick structure built in 1907 that retains original industrial elements including worn floors. At its peak, this site operated over 20,000 spindles. The two sites are linked by the Podiumsbrücke, a modern 13-metre-wide bridge over the renaturalised Bocholter Aa. The area between the town centre and Lake Aa continues to develop as a cultural quarter, with some portions designated for housing.

The LWL-Museum Textilwerk is located in Bocholt, with addresses at Uhlandstraße 50 (weaving mill) and Industriestraße 5 (spinning mill), postal code 46395-46397. It is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with last admission at 5:30 p.m.; closed Mondays except public holidays, and during a winter break from 22 December to 1 January. Admission is €8 for adults, €4 for concessions (recipients of ongoing benefits under Social Security Codes II and XII, students up to age 30, trainees, volunteers, people with disability of 50% or more, and holders of the NRW volunteer card), and free for children and young people up to 17 and school groups. Group rates apply for 16 or more adults. Daily demonstrations of historic looms begin at 3 p.m., and guided tours, hands-on activities, and living history events are offered. All exhibitions provide bilingual information in German and Dutch. The museum is barrier-free, with elevators and accessible restrooms.