You find the Austrian Museum for Papermaking (Österreichisches Papiermachermuseum) in the halls of a former paper mill in Steyrermühl. There, you can learn about the different ways of papermaking, beginning with the papyrus of ancient Egypt and ending with the modern paper mills.
I visited this museum on my trip along the locations of the Upper Austria State Exhibition 2008 (Oberösterreichische Landesausstellung 2008), which featured many fascinating places in the area of the Salzkammergut.
On the way to the museum, I came across several components used in the former paper mill. Such old technical structures are pretty intriguing, aren’t they? For example, those containers depicted above look very alien to me.
At the museum, I was especially impressed by the part which showed the production of paper reusing old clothes. At that time, poor people earned their money by collecting rags. That way, I also learned about the social aspects of papermaking.
Sources / More info
- Östereichisches Papiermachermuseum (Website)
- Salzkammergut (Wikipedia)