Bleaching Hut @museum.de

F: A whole, big meadow covered in brand new linen sheets – that's what it used to look like here on the bleaching green ... at least for a few days or weeks a year.

M: Producing linen took a lot of effort. In all, the process lasted almost exactly a year. The flax was sown in spring, harvested in early summer, then dried and processed. Autumn and winter were spent spinning and weaving. And finally, the following spring, the greyish linen cloth was bleached. At which point the process started over.

F: For bleaching, the long lengths of cloth were spread out on the green and kept moist by continually sprinkling them with water. Light and oxygen and the photosynthesis of the grass gradually bleached the linen – turned it white as a sheet, in fact. But the chemical reaction was slow and might take days, weeks or even months, depending on the effect you were trying to achieve.

M: It was said that March was the best and most effective time for bleaching. But only if the precious cloth didn't go missing during such a long-winded process! That was why there was a small hut at the edge of every bleaching green, where a farmhand and the farm dog had to spend the night to catch any potential linen thieves in the act.

F: On chilly March nights, that would have been quite a frigid affair!