Blue-dyeing is a traditional textile printing and dyeing craft in Europe. It has also been inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The process starts with printing of a dye-resistant paste onto a white cloth using century-old hand-crafted printing blocks. Then the cloth is dyed with indigo and the resistant paste prevents the dye from penetrating the design, so the printed pattern remains white after the dyeing process.

One of the few remaining representatives of this ancient tradition is a small family workshop located in the south of Hungary. The Bácsalmás Blue-dyeing Workshop was founded in 1879 and has been in operation ever since without interruption. The blue-dyeing craft is carried on by Zoltán Bakos, Master of Folk Art. His exclusive handmade products spread all over the world.

The workshop is open for visitors as well. All of the traditional workflows of blue-dyeing can be observed live. Each ancient tools and machines, even the wooden mangler, made in the 19th century and the Perrotine block-printing machine made in 1868 can be viewed in operation.