Reviving good traditions of the paper mill of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the manual production of paper, practiced by Orthodox monks 400 years ago, for further book-publishing, was restored in the Castle. The Castle’s paper production line uses the same equipment that was used in XVII century. The paper made in Radomysl was used for printing "Chasoslov" (The Book of Hours”) – the first book ever published in Kyiv, in 1616.

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First of all, paper pulp is prepared from remnants of cloth, linen and nettle. Depending on the type of paper you want to make - for printing or writing - raw materials should be taken in different proportions and then filled with water. To defend the future sheets of paper from insects, husk of onion and garlic is added into the pulp. Such paper has a grayish hue, but it is much more durable. Radomyshl paper of the XVII century, thanks to this technology survived much better than Dutch and German analogues of that time.

Raw materials soak in the water for a few weeks and then they are mashed to fibers, transforming into a liquid pulp. Farther, you take a special double rectangular frame with a net and scoop up paper-pulp. Then, removing the top of the frame, you should put a wet leaf on the cloth and cover it with another cloth. After that you repeat the operation again, each time dropping wet sheets and covering them with cloth. On the grid of frame there is a slightly bulbous image that will become a "watermark" on the sheet of paper due to the thickness difference on the surface of sheet. In the XVII century one person could produce about 400 such blanks in a half of the day.

The received "cake" is put under a press to remove water, then sheets should be taken out and hung to dry. Once the leaves dry, they are again put under pressure to get the similar flat and smooth sheets suitable for printing or writing. Such sheets from our Papirnya you can use to print postcards, books, letters, for drawing or writing. This sheet made by ancient technology, is able to persist for centuries and may become your family relic.

In Papirnya, you can order ancient paper for gift books, documents and certificates. You can also become an ancient paper-maker for a while and produce paper with your own hands, following ancient technology.