Zajímavé místo
Carved gingerbread moulds
Wooden moulds gave gingerbread decorative shapes and images.
Jazyk obsahu
The exhibition contains a dozen or so carved gingerbread moulds, selected from a museum collection numbering hundreds of objects. They were used to press images into dough. Their decoration combines skills required in a baker’s workshop with those used in carving wood. The baker did not necessarily make every mould. Makers could include workshop craftspeople, specialist woodcarvers, wood engravers and even sculptors. Producing moulds therefore brought knowledge of baking together with several kinds of woodworking expertise.
Silesian gingerbread-making flourished particularly between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Honey and spices were expensive, so gingerbread remained a luxury product for a long time. Most workshops operated in towns, with relatively few in the countryside. The price of ingredients influenced who could afford the finished goods. The spread of cheaper sweeteners encouraged changes in production. Provincial centres and factory businesses gained importance in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As production became simpler, elaborate carved moulds increasingly entered collections. The museum preserves objects that had previously been used in preparing food.
Pro děti
A gingerbread mould carries a carved design that was pressed into dough. A dozen or so moulds are displayed from a much larger collection. Bakers, craftspeople employed by them or specialist woodcarvers could make these tools.
Gingerbread was an expensive treat for a long time. It needed honey and spices, which cost a great deal. Workshops were mainly in towns. Later, production became cheaper and simpler, and factories also began making gingerbread. Old decorated moulds gradually stopped being used for work and entered museum collections.
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