The Museum of Technology and Textile Industry - a branch of the Museum in Bielsko-Biała, Poland - was founded on January 1, 1979 with the aim of evidencing the traditions of the local wool industry centre by means of collecting machines, devices and documents related to this field of production. Apart from this the Museum also exhibits items connected with firefighting, printing and metal machine industry. The Museum occupies some parts of the Büttners’ former cloth factory, which used to be one of the biggest textile factories in Bielsko. History of the Museum The Museum of Textile Technology took over the exhibits connected with weaver’s craft from the main seat of the Museum in Bielsko-Biała, and then gradually it enriched its collection with machines and devices taken from the local textile factories. At first the branch occupied the buildings of ZPW Rytex (Wool Industry Works), but in 1983 the museum was relocated in the part of the ZPW Bawelana buildings. The renovation works in the buildings started in 1992, and the first part of the exhibition was open for public on 2 December 1996. The exhibition on the first floor was opened a year later. Till 1995 the branch was called The Museum of Textile Technology. However it received lots of items connected with other kinds of technology so its name was changed into the present one. Along with the machines and devices connected with textile industry, which take up most of the exhibition, there are also items devoted to the history of Bielsko-Biała fire-brigade and waterworks, a small printing room and a so-called museum storage. Even the traditions of the local metal processing industry were not omitted. Depending on the financial means a restoration of the further rooms and the extension of the exhibitions are planned. The Museum occupies some of the buildings of the old cloth factory which used to belong to the Büttners family. The factory was one of the biggest textile factories at the time. In 1868 the local clothier master Karol Traugott Büttner bought a garden in the Żywiec Suburb, where he put up a two-storey building with annexes. In 1884 the company was inherited by his sons Karol Teodor and Gustaw Adolf who ran it as Karl Büttners Söhne (Karl Büttners Sons). They expanded the company. In 1889 the factory hall was put up on Sukinnicza Street, a boiler room was built and steam