The Orenburg Shawl at the Archaeological Museum of Prato

As part of the project “Interweavings of History. Orenburg Shawls from Prato to the Urals”, Shalnoy Orenburg products were presented at one of the most interesting cultural and historical centres of Tuscany — the Archaeological Museum of Artimino.

“The World of the Living” and “The World of the Dead”

The basis of the museum's exhibition is unique artefacts found during excavations of the necropolises of Artimino and Pietramarina and partly of Etruscan settlements in these places. The museum's archaeological area is surrounded by a natural landscape considered one of the most beautiful in Tuscany. The finds are displayed on two floors — in the so-called “World of the Living” and “World of the Dead” — and arranged according to their origin and belonging to one “world” or the other. The halls also have relatively new exhibits: a separate section is devoted to them, dedicated to ancient funerary sculptures.

Tools of the down-knitting craft

When preparing the exhibition dedicated to the Orenburg down shawl, the staff and management of the Artimino museum focused on the tools of the down-knitting craft. Most of the exhibition consisted of the tools and materials the region's craftswomen use to spin down yarn and knit shawls:

• spindles;
• knitting needles of different sizes;
• balls of down yarn;
• and, of course, the result of all this work — Orenburg shawls, both fragments and whole items.

These materials were not included in the museum's main exhibition, but looked quite natural next to the other artefacts. The detailed and visual presentation allowed visitors to appreciate the amount of labour and time craftswomen spend creating an Orenburg shawl.

This is the main value of the exhibition. Only by fully realising how much effort goes into a genuine down item can one truly appreciate each of them, form a complete picture and understand that the Orenburg down shawl is genuine handwork worthy of worldwide recognition.