Archaeologists In Poland Discovered Potentially The Largest Collection Of Well-Preserved Renaissance-Era Clothing Ever Found In Europe
In Poland, a vast collection of well-preserved clothing and shoes from the 16th and 17th centuries were discovered.
Archaeologists believe the pile of outfits may be the largest that has ever been found in all of Europe. The discovery was made in Toruń at the site of a future film studio.
The city of Toruń served as a trading center between the East and the West during the 16th and 17th centuries. It was known for producing exquisite fabrics, leather, ceramics, metals, and other crafts.
“Toruń had extensive contacts throughout Europe,” Mariusz Ciszak, an archaeologist involved with the project, said. “This city connected the East with the West; it was the center of the economic and political life of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the time.”
The clothing items date back to the Renaissance period in Toruń’s history. Experts noted that there were two distinct styles of shoes in the collection. Both showed Eastern and Western influences.
In addition, the archaeologists found silk fabrics, fragments of pleated dresses, floral ornaments, butterflies for holding spurs, and trimmings from the necklines of some of the garments.
Across Europe, similar items have been uncovered, but finding such a wide variety of articles together has been unheard of.
The quality of the items suggests that they once belonged to upper-class residents of Toruń. For instance, silk fabrics were expensive and had only been discovered in church crypts before.
Meanwhile, the butterfly spur holders appeared to have been worn by officers who weren’t from the area. The items were likely made by highly skilled craftsmen on the outskirts of town.
Boris Stroujko – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
Because the objects were all found together, researchers think that the site used to be the workshop of a shoemaker or a clothing repairer. Also, pieces of shoe heels were detected. During this time period, heels were just beginning to be popularized.
Not much is known about Toruń from the Renaissance period—there are few written records, even though the city was once an economic hub.
The latest discovery has provided a glimpse of what life was like in Toruń in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Hopefully, further analysis will give researchers more information about Renaissance Toruń.
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