Glarner Textildruck

In the attic of the Freuler Palace, the Museum of the State of Glarus presents the history of Glarus textile printing.

Since 2024, the Museum of the State of Glarus has had a new attraction. In the attic of the Freulerpalast, it presents the new part of the permanent exhibition on "Glarus Textile Printing" on around 500 m2.

This retells the more than 250-year history of this important economic sector. Glarus residents get to know the local cultural heritage in a new way or see it from a different perspective.

Our visitors from outside are taught about the innovative power that characterised the Glarus region early on, the variety of magnificent, high-quality textiles produced and how courageously the workers here stood up for improved working conditions in the 19th century. In the late 18th century, the textile printing industry was formative for the dynamic economic and social history of the country in various regions of the Swiss Confederation. Around 1860, this development reached its peak. The focus was concentrated in eastern and southeastern Switzerland in the triangle between Zurich, Glarus and St. Gallen with foothills in the cantons of Aargau and Thurgau and in northwestern Switzerland with Basel as its centre. For example, cloth printing in the canton of Glarus, silk ribbon weaving in the cantons of Basel and embroidery in the canton of St. Gallen are of great importance for the incredible speed of industrialisation in Switzerland in the 19th century. The rapid rise of the Glarus cloth printing industry from the middle of the 18th century onwards plays a special role here. This historical development is an important part of Glarus history and still shapes Glarus' self-image today.