Orenburg Gossamer Shawls at the Museum of the Natural Sciences Centre in Prato

As part of the exhibition project “Interweavings of History. Orenburg Shawls from Prato to the Urals”, down products from our region were shown at 8 museum venues in Tuscany. In some places these were separate exhibitions about the Orenburg down-knitting craft, while elsewhere museums took an even more interesting path and included the shawls, the tools for making them and other materials in their own exhibitions. One of the museums that created an unusual composition based on Orenburg shawls was the Natural Sciences Centre of Prato.

A museum where birds, minerals and a unicorn live

The Natural Sciences Centre is a large and well-known organisation. It runs a scientific centre and a nature reserve, which not long ago became famous for the birth of a semi-mythical unicorn on its territory. The Centre also has its own museum with large collections of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, shells and minerals, as well as herbs, rocks, and archaeological and palaeontological finds.

How to fit the Orenburg down shawl into the exhibition of a natural sciences museum? It turns out to be quite possible — you just need to use imaginative thinking. That is exactly what the Centre's staff and management successfully did.

A gossamer shawl next to a spider's web

Orenburg gossamer shawls became the cornerstone of the exhibition. These light and very beautiful items were skilfully “woven” into the main motif of the exhibition. The authors of the concept were struck by the incredible fineness and elasticity of the down yarn combined with its strength. A real spider's web has the same properties — and this comparison formed the basis of, for example, this composition.

As a result, the Orenburg gossamer shawl fitted organically into the exhibition concept. The metaphorical and figurative nature of the exhibits did not confuse the public — on the contrary, it delighted the guests: imaginative thinking turned out to be not at all alien to them.

We thank the staff and management of the museum of the Natural History Centre of Prato for their work, thanks to which such an original “combined” exhibition came about.

Follow the updates on our website: there is much more of interest ahead about our exhibitions, work trips and important events in the life of Shalnoy Orenburg.