European Paper Mills (from the era of hand-made paper) (Czechia)

Description

The proposed serial transnational nomination European Paper Mills is a selected group of six paper mills in five countries that demonstrates the leading role of Europe in the handmade paper industry from the 16th centuries onwards. The group includes six component parts: Velké Losiny Paper Mill (Czechia), Homburg Paper Mill (Germany) and Niederzwönitz Paper Mill (Germany), Pescia Paper Mill (Italy), Duszniki-Zdrój Paper Mill (Poland) and Capellades Paper Mill (Spain). The selection represents the key pre-industrial European paper producing regions: the Iberian Peninsula and the Apennine Peninsula, through which paper production spread to Europe, and Central Europe, where paper production continued to develop over centuries.

The tradition of manufacturing laid paper reached Southern Europe in the 11th century. In the 14th century, papermaking spread across Europe from northern Italy. However, the trade did only flourish after second half of the 15th century. It was Gutenberg's invention of movable type for letterpress printing but also the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the French Revolution that led to a surge in the need for a cheap, printable material.

As a result, in Europe, the manufacturing process of laid paper was mechanized for the first time leading to a faster and higher quality production of paper. The gradual mechanization and related transfer of technology enabled the production of large quantities of paper, which was a medium for knowledge transfer, of fundamental importance for the development of European civilization. The growing demand for paper and technical progress drove the development of paper production technologies across borders and continents. This gave rise to what can be now referred to as handmade paper production and gave shape to the type of a specific paper mill building which proliferated throughout Europe and is clearly distinguished from other industrial building types. The production of paper in Europe has been of very great importance for its population and for large proportions of peoples of the world, particularly in America.

The phenomenon of European handmade paper production is proposed to be represented by six European paper mills from the 16th to the 19th/early 20th century. The selected paper mills are fine examples of this specific type of building that emerged in Europe and largely remained unchanged over the centuries. The paper mills consist of the mill itself, the related water management infrastructure, and ancillary structures. They are characterized by a spatial and functional layout reflecting the historical process of laid papermaking, the production line used among others to transform raw materials (i.e., rags and waste paper) into paper pulp, and the primitive paperboard-making machine as well as a multistoried attic with the equipment for drying paper. The location of the paper mills is determined by the need for water as the main source of production and power.

Each component part reflects gradual adaptation to technological and economic developments throughout the centuries through their spatial and functional layout, and preserved production equipment. Likewise, they mirror architectural styles and building traditions of various historical periods and regions of Europe, namely the Apennine Peninsula, the Iberian Peninsula, and Central Europe.

As a group, they represent a common model of a pre-industrial manufacturing site which was widespread across Europe between the 16th and the 20th century and the associated cultural tradition of handmade paper production in Europe, some of them still producing handmade paper in a traditional way.

Name(s) of the component part(s)

Velké Losiny Paper Mill

Czechia, Olomouc Region, Municipality of Velké Losiny

Velké Losiny: 50° 1′46,97’’ N , 17° 2′17,81’’ E

Description of the component part(s)

Velké Losiny Paper Mill, Czechia

The Velké Losiny paper mill represents one of Europe's earliest examples of paper manufacturing. It was built at the end of the 16th century. The current building composition of the paper mill comes from the turn of the 19th century. In 1949, the paper mill became part of a state enterprise, Olšanské papírny, later to become part of a company dealing with paper production on several industrial machine paper mills in the Šumperk region. Since 2006, the paper mill site has been the seat of an independent company Ruční papírna Velké Losiny, Inc.

Since the mid-1970s, the site has experienced several costly reconstructions that have also continued in recent days. With more than four hundred years of traditional hand-paper production continuity, the site represents an outstanding example of unparalleled industrial heritage in the Central Europe.

A still existing millrace, a more than one-kilometer long water channel, provided water to drive both the former flourmill and later the paper mill machinery. This channel separates from the Desná river to run almost parallel with the river on its right side for about 300 meters; then, it crosses the valley floodplain and flows through the paper mill to join the Losinka river. Also, the whole length of the millrace is part of the National Cultural Monument.

Today, the Velké Losiny hand-paper mill manufactory belongs among Europe's oldest ongoing companies of its kind.

The local handmade paper is still produced traditionally from cotton and linen and, as such, represents a procedure where no wood material is applied. For its undeniable qualities, this centuries-lasting material is utilized for artistic uses, significant and formal correspondence, representative purposes, special printing editions, and in a bookbinding and restoration practice. The handmade papers and the current range of exclusive products of the Velké Losiny paper mill have gained ongoing popularity among the admirers of traditional handmade products.  

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

The proposed serial transnational nomination consists of a group of European paper mills, which were built in the period when paper was handcrafted (16th-20th century). European Paper Mills is a series that comprises six component parts: Velké Losiny Paper Mill (Czechia), Homburg Paper Mill (Germany) and Niederzwönitz Paper Mill (Germany), Pescia Paper Mill (Italy), Duszniki-Zdrój Paper Mill (Poland) and Capellades Paper Mill (Spain).

The selected paper mills are an exceptional example of the facilities that served pre-industrial European paper production industry since the 16th century based on textile fibres. Driven by Gutenberg's invention of movable type for letterpress printing but also the Renaissance, the Reformation and the French Revolution after the second half of the 15th century, the gradual mechanization of paper production in Europe led to faster and higher quality production of paper and spread of the mechanized papermaking process over Europe.

The architectural design, functional and spatial configuration of the mills, and their siting fully represent the typical features of the unique group of properties they form (which stem from the specificities of artisan papermaking). At the same time, the individual paper mills exemplify regional conditions and building traditions, bearing testimony to local specificities and the social position of their owners. They also reflect the styles of successive historical and architectural periods and at the same time, they reflect the gradual adaption to technological and economic developments throughout the centuries and preserved production equipment.

They were built in strict correspondence to the needs of the laid paper production technology, which relied on the use of organic-fabric rags. The mills are situated close to sources of water that is necessary for the employed processes, including as a source of the energy needed for the manufacturing. The proposed paper mills continue to make paper using the traditional technique (for educational and commercial purposes).

As a group, they represent a common model of a pre-industrial manufacturing site where the paper has a pivotal role in the European civilization and retain key values, namely historic, architectural and technological.

The unique architectural forms and authentic equipment of the paper mills fully justify recognizing the proposed properties as having unique universal value and inscribing them on the WHL.

Criterion (ii): The proposed transnational serial property is an outstanding testimony to the pioneering development of paper-making technologies that led to a faster and higher quality production of paper in large quantities for the increasing demand for paper after the invention of the letterpress printing. This technological development was revolutionary and led to the spread of mechanized paper-making across Europe.

They bear an important testimony to the traditional process of paper production as it developed centuries ago on the European continent, where this knowledge was transferred from the Far East. The selected paper mills represent a European tradition of manual paper production and revolutionised paper production. From the 15th century, the manual production of paper became a numerous type of craft in Central Europe as well, and in connection with the invention of printing, it helped the spread of human knowledge and rapid progress. During the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the French Revolution, paper became instrumental for the communication, dissemination of knowledge, and advancement of education in Europe.

Innovations such as the treatment of the paper with animal glue to make it ink-resistant and improving the scoop as well as new machinery, e.g. for rendering rags into pulp (known as the ‘Hollander beater’), accelerated the production process and improved the quality of the paper. Paper could now be written on or printed with ink.

Criterion (iii): European Paper Mills bear an exceptional testimony to the long-lasting cultural tradition of handmade paper production in Europe.

Mechanization and technology transfer made it possible to produce large quantities of paper, which was a medium for knowledge transfer and of fundamental importance for the development of European civilization. The series represents a specific building type directly associated with this cultural tradition that began in the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance and is considered as one of the most remarkable periods in the buildout of European civilization when paper was key to communication, broad-ranging education, science and information sharing.

Since the 12th century, paper-making has played a pivotal role in the buildout of European civilization. The growth of the network of paper mills and their improved efficiency boosted paper production and added to the flourishing of societies. Hand-crafted paper, which was a carrier of information and knowledge from the Middle Ages to the early 19th century, was driving the development of culture and civilization for more than 500 years. Handmade paper was used as a means of writing down documents and printing artists’ work from the late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment periods, until early Romanticism. One distinguishable feature of European paper mills is the presence of watermarks. Every paper mill in Europe used sieves with unique marks that, once applied to the sheet, made its manufacturer identifiable. In the era of industrialisation, traditional European paper mills came under increasing economic pressure following the expansion of machine-based production, traditional papermaking vanished almost completely with only slightly more than 20 old paper mills that combine museum and production functions surviving to this day.

The selected paper mills provide material evidence for the influence of such properties on the development of this specific cultural area at a time when awareness of importance of education in wider society was rising. The material structure, location and equipment of the paper mills illustrate how it was possible from a historical point of view that paper, which acted as the carrier of values, was disseminated on a wide scale. The specificity of the technological process resulted in the repeatability of solutions, which may be observed in the paper mills. These specific traits reflect the significant role of the paper mills in the history of civilisation.

The selected paper mills are characterised by the continuity of the handmade papermaking tradition, even though nowadays it is developed on a minor scale than in the past. The architecture of the paper mills, as well as their location, functional layout and the preserved machinery, document the cultural tradition of the artisan paper-making process.

Criterion (iv): European Selected Paper Mills is an outstanding example of a specific building type whose historical and technological development is representative of European paper production. The mechanization of paper-making led to the development of a specific building type – the European Paper Mill including a water-powered mill with papermaking equipment and a multi-attic floor for drying sheets of paper. The location of the paper mills near water and the related water-management structures were determined by the technological development of a method of making paper pulp from old rags. This process required the greatest input of physical labour. For the main production stages, the associated equipment and work organisation translated directly into the shape of the paper mill building. The functional layouts of the interiors are tailored to the specificity of the technology process, with the papermaking and drying spaces displaying the most characteristic attributes. The paper mills bear a tangible testimony to the traditional hand papermaking process.

The selected paper mills with preserved process lines, drying rooms, and storage facilities represent the best-preserved examples of this building type and the gradual adaption to technological and economic developments throughout the centuries through their spatial layout, architectural and partially preserved production equipment. The selected group documents the key European paper-producing regions architectural styles and building traditions of various historical periods and illustrates the geographical spread of the building type and associated traditions across Europe.

Statements of authenticity and/or integrity

Authenticity

The nominated transnational serial property - as a whole as well as on the level of the individual component parts - meets the conditions of authenticity with regard to the attributes of location and setting, form and design, materials and substance as well as the intangible attributes. The paper mills retain the partitioning of the interiors, and the original construction and finishing materials, which date back to the time when the mills handcrafted paper, and many items of the original production equipment, including stamp mills, ‘Hollander beaters’, water wheels and energy transmission systems, and production equipment (including a collection of screens for watermarked paper making). Subsequent interventions were small-scale and mainly involved conservation, which did not impact authenticity.

European artisan paper-making is inseparably linked to the paper mills. While the paper mills have lost their original function, the paper mills continue to manufacture laid paper using traditional methods for documentation purposes. Documentation and objects underpinning authenticity include collections of paper items manufactured in the mills.

Integrity

The nominated serial property comprises all the essential attributes to support the proposed Outstanding Universal Value through physical characteristics including the functional buildings and related infrastructures. Structural integrity is high and fully attests to the entire history of development of the European paper production. A certain degree of function integrity is provided by the continuing production for demonstration purposes of paper using artisan methods enhanced in each selected mill. Together, the component parts are impressive evidence of the 500-year paper-making process in Europe. The selected paper mills are in a good state of conservation and well managed. Each component part is protected by the highest nation law applied within the respective country. The long-term preservation is secured by continued use as museums. None of the component parts is threatened by development or neglect.

Justification of the selection of the component part(s) in relation to the future nomination as a whole

Geographic, climatic and civilizational conditions gave rise to far-reaching differences in how papermaking technology developed in Asia and Europe. Before they were colonised, the northern parts of Africa abounded in papermaking workshops that employed a technique similar to that previously developed in China, while America saw the spread of the European method. As a result, of the general need for paper, thousands of paper mills were constructed across Europe during the pre-industrial era. However, the introduction of the industrial production methods in the mid-19th century connected with developed sources of energy and the use of wood contributed to the gradual and substantial decrease of hand papermaking.

Nowadays, of the thousands of paper mills which existed, only 25 survive in varying degrees of preservation, while about twenty mills continue to employ traditional, artisanal production methods.  The justification of the selection of the component parts as whole was guided by:

• Representation of the European key regions for artisan paper production.
• Architectural styles and building traditions of various historical periods.
• Authenticity including original equipment.
• Continuing production of paper.
• Location close to a natural source of water: provision of water energy.
• Placement of technologies in several storeys, a multi storey building, in some cases characterized by a huge roof (in case the paper was dried there).
• Collection of historical sheets of paper with watermarks.

As a result, the six selected component parts of the nominated serial property European Paper Mills sufficiently represent the phenomenon of European artisan paper production, a specific building type, which was widespread in Europe from the 13th to the 19th centuries as well as the cultural regions, which contributed to the history of hand papermaking in the most considerable way. The serial transnational property the European Paper Mills is composed of the best-preserved paper mills in Europe that continue to produce handmade paper for demonstration purposes. The selected paper mills complement one another and make up a broad picture of European papermaking from the handcraft era.

Comparison with other similar properties

Currently, there are several thousand modern paper factories in the world that process wood into paper using machine production technology. Their production activity is of a mass nature, all modern factories are characterized by the efficiency of tens or even hundreds of thousands of tons of paper, and all of them together, globally, produce about 400 million tons of paper annually. The opposite of modern factories are paper mills from the era of manual papermaking. Only 25 such old objects have survived to this day, and they are found only in Europe. They are still based on the manual technique of papermaking, and their capacity does not exceed several tons of paper per year, so the capacity of an archaic paper mill is approximately 10,000 times smaller than that of an average paper mill.

The remaining European paper mills have retained the originality of the buildings and paper-making equipment to a lesser extent. In Herisem (Belgium) in the second half of the 19th century, steam drives were used on a large scale and a lot of cardboard production machines were introduced as a result of which the facility lost the character of a traditional paper mill. The same happened in Loennen (Netherlands) and Alte Dombach (Germany).

The buildings of some of the mills underwent far-reaching transformations. This concerns Paços de Brandão (Portugal) and Bad Groβpertholz (Austria). In Wookey Hole (Great Britain) an entertainment center was created, in Plöger (Germany) part of the building was adapted for a guest house. The mill in Basel (Switzerland) in the mid-nineteenth century changed its function to a tobacco factory, and it was not until half a century ago that paper production was restored there using equipment brought from other paper mills. There are other valuable paper mills which retained historical and technological value:  two small paper mills in Amalfi (Italy), 7 facilities in France (Brousses-et-Villaret, Couze-et-Saint Front, Laroque, La Rouzique, Le Moulin du Got, Verger and Davézieux), the mill in Ambert (France) and the wind powered paper mill in Westzaan (Netherlands).

So far, two sites similar to the proposed series of paper mills have been added to the World Heritage List. The first of them is a machine factory of wood pulp and cardboard from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, along with a workers' housing estate in Verla (Finland) - on the World Heritage List since 1996.

In the proposed series of paper mills, paper was made by hand from rags, while the factory in Verla was from the beginning geared to mass processing of wood into wood pulp, from which cardboard was produced. The former mills are relatively small facilities, built of wood and local building materials, while the Verla factory is a large brick structure covered with sheet metal and tiles. Another difference concerns the final product, which in the case of the proposed paper mills was writing and printing paper, and in the case of the Verla factory - cardboard, mainly used for packaging other products.

The second site inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2005 is the Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex in Antwerp (Belgium), which includes a Renaissance printing house. It is not related to the history of papermaking but printing. The printing houses, including the workshop in Antwerp, used paper produced in paper mills from the era of hand-made paper.

European paper mills are extremely elaborate multi-storey structures, sometimes connecting several buildings. In Asia, papermaking has always been closely related to nature, and most of the activities were performed by workers directly on rivers (wetting plants, sorting fibres, washing pulp) or in the open air (drying sheets, building free-standing furnaces). Roofs were created for some activities, and the buildings themselves were usually erected only in places directly related to the gathering and storage of finished sheets. They were wooden, single-storey structures.

As a result of the expansion of machine production in Europe in the 19th century, only 25 traditional paper mills from the era of hand-made paper have survived to this day, combining both production and museum functions. In Asia, a living tradition of manufactories is still present today. In China, Korea, Japan, and Thailand, there are numerous paper mills that continue local traditions and even create new ones based on former technologies. On other continents, during the period of handicraft production, separate forms of papermaking workshops did not develop, and those created under the influence of European culture (North and South America) or Asian culture (northern part of Africa) underwent far-reaching transformations or did not survive.