Preili Museum of History and Applied Arts (Latvia), Grodno State Museum of the History of Religion (Belarus) and Panevezys Local Lore Museum (Lithuania) joint virtual exhibition – footwear. Preili Museum of History and Applied Arts Is there a corner on the earth where a human foot would never have stepped? In a thousand years, both the highest peaks and the deepest canyons and lowlands have been conquered. Would humanity be able to do it without the right shoes – from the most ordinary leather moccasins and postols to the iconic “Air Jordan”. Wherever you go, you will always have shoes on your feet – with your imprint and your story. The collection of footwear in the collection of the Museum of History and Applied Art of Preili is relatively small, but it forms a comprehensive picture of what footwear did Preili inhabitants used during the 20th century walking city streets and dusty country roads. Leather shoes. 1930’s Leather shoes owned by Jelikamida Ivanova are one of the finest shoes in the museum’s collection. The shoe has a high heel and decorative lacing on the upper. Every detail shows the fine handiwork of the employees of “D. Mogilnikov shoe factory” working in Riga, which was undoubtedly promoted by the high-quality standard of the owner of the factory – David Mogilnikov, who won a golden medal for the quality of his products in Paris in 1927. J.Ivanova lived in Preiļi, working all her life at Preiļi post office, but in her free time she actively participated in the public life of the city. It is not clear how J.Ivanova got these shoes, maybe her brother – the famous composer Jānis Ivanovs – gave them as a present to her. However, at the end of the 1940s, J.Ivanova gave her shoes to her roommate Matrjona Kotļerova, who could not continue to wear the shoes, because they were too small, but highly appreciated the quality of the gift keeping them. Wooden patten. 1940’s Pattens, or shoes with a wooden sole, were called klikatiņas (probably due to their specific sound while walking). Made during World War II, belonged to Valentīna Dzene, who lived in Dzeni, Preili Parish. Due to the shortage of footwear, klikatiņas became widely used by women during the wartime, also called ” frugality shoes”. Such shoes were widely popularized in the press during the German occupation. For example, on March 15, 1942, the newspaper “Darbs un Zeme” published an explanation why women have to wear such shoes, as well as samples of the patten shoes used in Germany with drawings and manufacturing instructions. The pattens were made of wooden soles and leather ties. To make the sole bend, it was sawed in two parts, joining the parts together with a strip of leather. Fabric or garters could also be used instead of leather. Leather shoe. 1930’s – the beginning of 1940’s On November 2-16, 2018, several control excavations were carried out near the Preiļi Jewish Citizens’ Cemetery at the site where in the summer of 1941 Jews of Preiļi and the surrounding area were killed. The purpose of the control excavations was to find out the boundaries of the shooting site for the later improvement of the territory and the creation of a memorial. During the works, the boundaries of one mass grave was located and also very valuable items were obtained – the shoes of the Preili inhabitants killed during the Holocaust. In the summer of 1944, German troops retreated throughout the territory of Latvia, trying to hide their crimes by burning the bodies of those killed. The same happened in Preili. The 20 shoes found were on the edge of a mass grave untouched by fire. This red women’s sandal, with a high heel and a decorative “leaf” on the toe, is not only a testament to what shoes were used in Preili in the early 1940s before the German occupation, but also a unique testimony of the Holocaust in Preili and all over In Latvia. Hrodna State Museum of the History of Religion Shoes are an important part of the dress. They protect the feet from cold, dirt, moisture and mechanical injury by sharp stones, thorns, and tree roots protruding above the soil surface. The most ancient type of footwear on the territory of Belarus is bast shoes, woven from bass or bark. They were known to both the Slavs and the Balts for a long time. At least from the end of the 16th century, leather shoes, better known as postols or porshens (a kind of sandals strapped to the feet), could also be called bast shoes. In addition to bast shoes made of bass or bark and postols, footwear made of leather or linen with a wooden bottom, cloth, linen ropes and threads was also traditional in the Grodno region. It is interesting that bast shoes made of bass or bark, even when they were out of use could retain their ritual significance. In some villages, for example, it was believed that if the deceased was buried in leather shoes, then the animal from whose skin it was made would disturb the deceased in the next world demanding its skin back. During the wedding, the bride and groom were presented with sandals as a symbol of loyalty, so that the newlyweds were always a couple. Unlike the rural population, town dwellers generally wore nothing more than leather shoes. Postols, which were widely used in the 9th-13th centuries, were gradually complemented by boots, half boots and shoes with low leather heels. This is not surprising, because, Grodno, for example, was a well-known center of currying, which is reflected even in the famous engraving of Zündt (Matthias Zündt, 1568). The medieval footwear found by archaeologists in Grodno is distinct in its laconic form and almost complete lack of decor in comparison with footwear from Minsk, Brest or Polotsk. Postols (porshens). Belarus. The beginning of the 20th century. Leather, stitchwork Postols, which were used in the Grodno region at … Continue reading Virtual exhibition “Footwear”