Germany · Textile weaving; Linen craft; Westphalian heritage
Bielefelder Leinenweberei
The linen weaving tradition of Bielefeld and the Ravensberger Land — the North Rhine-Westphalian linen production region that was Germany's most significant linen cloth manufacturing center from the medieval period to the late 19th century, whose linen cloth was exported through Hamburg and Amsterdam across the Atlantic world. Bielefeld linen (Ravensberger Leinwand) was so significant a trade product that the city's historic coat of arms features a linen weaver's shuttle. The Bielefelder Weberin reads the correct weft density through a raking-light cloth assessment identical in principle to the Großschönau Saxon damask assessment (CRAFT-1181) but for plain-weave linen rather than the more complex damask structure.
Risk level: Endangered · Not listed; Westfälische Leinenweberei on the German national heritage inventory
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