Museum of Printing Art and Papermaking

The museum came to Supraśl in north-east Poland in 2014 to a home in two grand rooms of the Abbot’s Palace. The history of papermaking and printing in Supraśl dates back to the 17th century. It later became a centre of textile manufacture. The pioneers of printing with movable type in the region were Ivan Fyodorov and Pyotr Mstislavets. They came from Moscow and printed a gospel in 1569 at Zabłudów, 30km north of Supraśl. The museum exhibition includes papermaking equipment, printing presses dating from the mid-18th century onwards, replicas of other equipment and examples of printing and books. Staff demonstrate papermaking from rag pulp using the process of dipping mesh frames into the pulp and drying them, typesetting with wooden and metal type, copperplate engraving and lithography. They also undertake bookbinding and stamping. Visitors can make prints on a replica of a 15th-century printing press. Classes are offered in art printmaking.