Hello lovelies,

the 9th lace congress was held in St. Florian/Austria from the 11th to 13th of October. My bobbin lace teacher had invited us months ago and we were excited to go. 

taken from Klöppel-verein.at

Driving from Vienna was a 2hours ride with the car. It would have taken ages by train as it's not really accessible with public transportation.

We arrived at St. Florian around 1pm and all of the parking places in the small village were already taken so we squeezed into one on the side of the road. 

St. Florian (Monastery Florian) is a magnificent Augustinian monastery founded in the 9th centuary and is the largest monastery in upper Austria. 

We were amazed how many people from all over Europe came to the congress as we saw car licence plates from Germany, Croatia, and Hungary - just to name a few. In our minds it was just a one room exhibition with a few vendors like the lace exhibition in Göllersdorf and we were not prepared how huge it really was. Entering the congress would have been 17€ for the day but only 10€ after 2pm. So, we waited for an hour because we also didn't bring a lot of money and it was cash only. But the boring waiting time was reduced greatly when we found a small lace exhibition from the monastery herself. The monks had collected and catalogued a ton of lace and this room was free to enter, at least for the duration of the congress.

taken from textilportal

Im Jahr 1914 stellte Ackerl diese Spitzen aus. Am 29. Mai beehrte Erzherzogin Valerie die Ausstellung mit ihrem Besuch. Über diese Ausstellung ist auch in der Tagespost und Wiener Zeitung zu lesen gewesen. „Von den Herrn Mitbrüdern des Hauses wurde die Ausstellung, wie gewöhnlich, sehr wenig beachtet; ja der Herr Stiftskustos besichtigte nicht nur nicht die Spitzensammlung, sondern verkaufte in dieser Zeit ein Stück von einer venezianischen Reliefspitze an einen Wiener um 400 Kronen (war nicht das erste Mal)! auf das hin erhielt ich den Auftrag, alles, was an Spitzen Wertvolles in der Hofwäsche noch vorhanden, in Sicherheit zu bringen“, so Josef Ackerl.

In 1914, Ackerl exhibited these laces. On 29 May, Archduchess Valerie honoured the exhibition with her visit. This exhibition was also published in the Tagespost and Wiener Zeitung. "As usual, the exhibition was very little noticed by the confreres of the house; indeed, the curator of the monastery not only did not visit the lace collection, but sold a piece of a Venetian relief lace to a Viennese for 400 crowns during this time (it was not the first time)! then I was given the task of bringing to safety all the lace that was still valuable in the yard linen," says Josef Ackerl.

[Harald R. Ehrl, Kustos der Sammlungen, Augustiner-Chorherrenstift St. Florian] from https://www.ordensgemeinschaften.at/kultur/aktuelles/news/article/8002.html&ts=1731925244170 taken on 18th of November 2024 11:27

But before we get started, just beware that this is a picture heavy post. I had already sorted out pictures and resized thes. If you want any picture as a close up or the pictures in a higher resolution (for private use only), send me a message auris_lothol@hotmail.com or leave a comment. 

This is a lace sampler of some of the laces a wandering salesperson had on their person. 

Here is a comparison of lace that is handmade and machine made. Can you see the difference? Handmade is so much finer than machine made. 

Down below are various lace techniques. Click the pictures to zoom in.

Embroidered piece with bobbin lace. 

These laces are all machine made. 

There was already so much to see in this tiny room that we came right on time at 2pm and were able to enter with the cheaper fee. 

And as the door to the room opened I was floored. I have been to a lot of monasteries but the baroque grandieuse of the representation rooms always take my breath away.
I did not take any pictures of the room, it wouldn't do it justice anway, but look at the video I took.

When entering, there was a table on the right side that caught my eye. Going closer I realized that there was the same motif - two bobbins but so many different techniques. 

Left to right is first Kreta Lace, then lace from the time of Christian IV of Denmark, Bedfordshire lace and Austria lace. I think Austria lace is very distinctive as it is completely missing any ground and is therefore very airy and light. 

Left to right is: milan lace (made of linen, silk or cotton from Italy), Isernia lace (also made in Italy), and Idrija lace (from Slovenia(.

"Freehand lace can be defined as “Lace made by working directly on the fabric of the lace pillow, without using a pricking and with very limited use of pins”. https://www.jeanleader.net/articles/fhlseaming.html

And this everyone, is just the first room. 

Heading out of this room, we found ourselves in a long corridor with more lace but also art from the monastery.

The second room had people showing off their skills at ochi and there were also more occhi samplers, Klosterarbeiten, and also a few modern bobbin lace. A group from Malta was also there but I did not see Dr Consiglia Azzopardi, who we met in Gozo and was the director of the lace museum there. 

I love this "please don't touch" sign made in bobbin lace. 

The only thing left to see, we thought, were the vendors. So we went there and found so many wonderful items. I almost bought bobbins in the english style, with the beads at the back, but alas, the woman only took cash and we are cashless millenials. :(

But we did find something we liked and the woman took card, so I bought a ring in real silver, fashioned after bruge lace called "duchess lace". Check out their jewellery, it all looks amazing!

It was only later, when I talked to a friend who we met, that we found out, that there was also more in the third floor. Damn it, we missed that. 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures,

all the best,

Auris Lothol