Bílovec Museum, which is located in a baroque building dating from the second half of the 18th century, offers a diverse experience. The museum offers a unique feature of a virtual guide, represented by a municipal scrivener who used to live and work here more than 200 years ago. In addition to the audio guide, visitors can use other available technology such as touch screens, which provide more information not only about the particular exhibition but also about the history of the town.

BÍLOVEC’S HISTORY

Exhibition which was newly opened for the public in autumn 2014 presents the historical and administrative development of the town. The museum offers a rich collection of guild objects — guild chests, treasury and guild funeral labels from 1804. On selected exhibits, the guide emphasizes, among other things, the role of textile industry which has been very crucial for the town development since the Middle Ages. He also highlights the the Bílovec Chateau and aristocratic families who ruled the dominion.

Visitors can also visit the scrivener’s office where the guide explains what his job was about and what tools he used. Other special objects of interest include calibrated measures like metal fathom or metal cubit.

Another exposition takes the visitors to 19th century, right into the Salcher’s factory that produced buttons made of ivory-nuts, material imported from overseas. Mathias Salcher, the original owner, exported the buttons all over the world.

Salcher’s production gradually grew and manufactured not only fabric and metal buttons, but also textile goods, shoemaking accessories, rivet insert machines, small metal assortment, pens for artistic writing and smoking accessories. Another important product Salcher started to produce were ski bindings, including a very unique ski binding Kandahar. The original Swiss license was bought and improved to that extent that Salcher’s company Massag became the exclusive producer of safety ski binding and contributed to the development of the ski sport in our country as well as abroad. At the museum, visitors can find historic samplers from the factory production. These illustrate the long-term development of the company until the present days.

MAGIC CELLAR

Magic cellar of the museum cannot be missed neither by children nor adults. It is full of elves — Picmochs who moved into the originally uninhabited Bílovec Museum cellar. Our elves have a separate page where you can find more information about them.