– a new industrial museum within the realms of The National Museum of Denmark.

Brede Works is one of the best-preserved industrial monuments in Denmark and a typical example of the patriarchal industrial production encompassing all functions of an industrial society as asylums for the babies, school for the children, housing for the workers and their families, care taking of sick and old people etc.

Brede Works in Lyngby just north of Copenhagen is a well-preserved industrial society from the patriarchal period (18th and 19th century).
(Foto: Lars K. Christensen, 2005. )
The works are situated along the “Mølleåen” – more or less the cradle of Danish Industry with 7-8 water mills dating back to the Middle-Ages. Brede Works was one of the largest industries in the area based on wool production (spinning and weaving). The production stopped as late as 1957 and The National Museum became owner of the works in 1959.

For several years The National Museum of Denmark has now worked on developing a concept for a new part of the museum focusing on the industrial heritage and within the last year, the museum has succeeded to secure the financing planning to open the new exhibitions in summer 2009.

Exhibitions and related activities will focus on themes showing how industry and industrialization changed our way of thinking and living through the last 150-200 years.

We have started to work on the following issues:

• The background and conditions of industrialization – the developing and spreading of ideas, energy, capital, workforce and raw materials in a global perspective
• Discipline and precision. The workers – who were they? Where did they come from? What kind of demands did they have to accept? Their working-conditions – what did they experience and how did they react?
• Rural and urban. Industrialization is also a story about cultural conflicts and various life-modes. The immigrants from the rural areas had to adapt to urban life-modes and adjust to the demands from the industries concerning discipline and precision. Even today those demands can lead to cultural conflicts!
• The factory in our minds. The industrial way of producing goods has changed our concepts of time and space – and that change has not only influenced those working within the factories but the society as a whole – implying the artists as well as common people.
• Growth, welfare and values. The industrial society changed everyday life with social, political and ideological implications.
• Goodbye to industrial society? Are we on our way out of the industrial society? What is the implication of the global working place? And the implications of changes in the access to cheap energy not to mention the global heating of the atmosphere?

The philosophy behind exhibitions and activities is the posibility of the visitors to construct their own stories about modern society through the confrontation with various themes, activities and hands-on arrangements.

The visitors should be encouraged to examine and explore the history of technology and culture from the 1850’ies until today through activities appealing to children as well as adults.

It should bepossible to follow different “tracks” trough the exhibitions where you can choose different roles such as the textile worker, the engineer, the unskilled worker, the girl sweeping the floors etc. The information will then depend on, which track you choose.

The key word is animation and activities appealing to families as well as school-children. The aim is to establish the connection between technology, history and culture to clearify the basic conditions for democracy and welfare-society.