The Kreenholm Manufacturing Company was a textile factory located on the river island of Kreenholm in the city of Narva in Estonia. It was founded by German industrialist Ludwig Knoop in 1857 who was a cotton merchant from Bremen in Germany. Knoop acquired the whole island and founded his textile factory there.
At one point, Kreenholm's cotton spinning and manufacturing mills were the largest in the world and consisted of 32,000 acres of land and employed over 10,000 workers.
The factory was built using red-brick, English-style architecture and was once considered a symbol of industrial prowess. Narva’s powerful 27-foot waterfall made it possible to use cheap water energy to power much of the factory's operations.
The first workers strike in the history of Estonia took place at the Kreenholm textile factory in August 1872. Poor working conditions led to a cholera outbreak that killed over 500 people. At that time employees were starting work at 5am and working 14 hour days in an environment where factory windows were always closed. After a series of negotiations, some small improvements were made.
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After periods of state ownership and privatisation following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kreenholm textile factory eventually went bankrupt in 2010, Today, the site is an important piece of Estonian industrial heritage, offering insights into the history of industrialisation and serving as a backdrop for cultural events.
