Point of interest
Dower chests and settlers’ textiles
Towels, bedspreads and kilims travelled in chests from their owners’ home regions.
Content language
Dower chests, associated with belongings prepared for marriage, also carried household possessions during moves. The exhibition shows chests in which post-war settlers brought textiles to Lower Silesia. Everyday belongings travelled along the same roads as their owners. Towels from the Lviv area were decorated with cross-stitch embroidery. Polesian towels had geometric patterns created by interweaving threads during weaving. Comparing the textiles shows that decoration could be added to finished cloth or produced as part of making it.
Decoratively woven bedspreads came from the Vilnius region. Like the towels, they were household textiles transported in chests and used to furnish a home. Their surviving designs brought the traditions of the settlers’ former region into the post-war collection. Hutsul kilims feature geometric motifs. These textiles also formed part of the belongings carried to new homes. Together, chests and fabrics reveal different approaches to decorating cloth: embroidery, woven patterns and kilim designs. A shared history of relocation links objects with different appearances and places of origin.
For children
Large chests carried things needed in a new home. Post-war settlers in Lower Silesia brought towels, bedspreads and kilims in them. Dower chests had earlier been associated with belongings prepared for marriage.
The textiles differed in their designs and how they were made. Towels from the Lviv area had cross-stitch embroidery. In Polesia, patterns were created during weaving. Decorative bedspreads came from the Vilnius region, while Hutsul kilims featured geometric designs. Each item was part of the household belongings brought from a former home.
Question 1 of 2