INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE IN THE URBAN IDENTITY AND MEMORY AXIS

Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

passage of time, representing multiple layers of time and cultural activity therefore being
part of the identity of a people and a place. If the landscapes of the past industrial period
are to be re-used for various purposes in the post-industrial period, their original identity
must be preserved. In this sense, before starting to develop a reclamation or rehabilitation
project for a post-industrial landscape, it is important to find the answer for two different
questions: why and how to reclaim and protect the industrial landscape? The answer to
the why is often very clear. Industrial landscapes describe an important part of the history
of a place, thus, constituting a testimony of cultural, social and economic conception and
evolution which documents and interprets considerable values for urban heritage. The
answer to the how is relatively more complex because there are several possible answers
to this question. Yet, each of them generally includes several restrictions enabled by the
search for profit maximization by private and public sectors (Loures, 2008: 689-690).

The Revitalization of Industrial Heritage in Europe, the Im-
portance of Routes in the Reuse of Industrial Heritage and
Some Examples of Routes

The urban-built heritage can often be a reminder of happier times - of when people
cared about an area, of when it was successful. This can be equally true for the industrial and
maritime heritage, as it is for the domestic, governmental and military built heritage of the
upper classes. Finding new or renewed uses for the restored built heritage can be a strong
symbol that a neighbourhood can be a similar kind of place again, fostering greater pride and
a sense of belonging among the locals. Urban revitalisation, or urban regeneration, refers to
the re-use of buildings or whole areas seen to be in some form of decline, bringing in new
activities that often deliver economic or environmental benefits. Culture and creativity can
be catalysts for an urban revitalisation process and can play a number of different roles.
They can be an extra part of an existing project (culture and regeneration), or be fully
integrated (cultural regeneration), or can be the main drivers of the project (culture-led
regeneration). These revitalisation projects take place in areas experiencing often multiple
forms of economic, environmental and social decline, so it takes more than a shiny new
cultural facility or event on its own to turn around the fortunes of a neighbourhood, zone or
quarter. The most common success factor is adequate activity to create a critical mass. This
can create a culture and leisure honeypot, generating tourist and local footfall, which brings
spending, that in turn supports ancillary retail and hospitality businesses. The targeted use
can also be made of cultural events and activities that specifically seek to raise awareness
of the area and again, to improve perceptions of the place (IDB, 2019: 22, 38, 40-42). In
urban renewal works, giving a new identity to industrial heritage buildings, gaining new
functions, and even opening them to tourism are implemented with many projects today.

Restoring old industrial heritage buildings and reusing them for various purposes
has recently become very popular. The most common models of reuse include thematic
museum, thematic park, shopping mall, culture and arts center, and multifunctional spaces
and centers. Except these models, route studies have been carried out for nearly 20 years

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to revitalize the industrial heritage. In fact, the idea of introducing the industrial heritage
through creating a route is the intersection of these models because all models are located
at the Anchor Points of the routes. In fact, the Theme Routes themselves are the visible side
of these models. Moreover, industrial heritage routes occasion such a reanimation of former
industrial sites according to the principles of cultural tourism, place production, professional
networking and best practice learning. As a mode of operation, the route has some potential
advantages over the bounded, site-specific approach. It extends the historic context of the
site in question beyond the isolated geographical location. Orchestrating sites in a wider
heritage network is a way of emphasizing a notion of culture that stresses interaction,
movement and encounters with that which lies beyond the local. It may also grant heritage
professionals an opportunity to work in closer relation to what goes on elsewhere. One of
the important precursors in this regard was the German Route Industriekultur in the Ruhr
area. This particular attempt to route the industrial heritage in Ruhr has acted as a model of
successful industrial heritage in Europe in recent years. According to a Belgian industrial
heritage specialist, Patrick Viaene (2005), the approach in Ruhr has provided a long-term
inspiration and works as an ideal in regions affected by industrial decline. It has influenced
policies in other former industrial regions, such as the Spanish Asturias, the Flemish regions
in Belgium, Nord in France, Alsace, Lorraine, Polish Silesia as well as in parts of Greece.
This list is likely to grow due to the fact that Ruhr is frequently cited as a reference point for
many urban planners, architects and conservationists engaged in large-scale regeneration of
industrial areas (Bangstad, 2011: 285-286).

European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH)

ERIH, the European Route of Industrial Heritage, is a pan-European network
of industrial heritage sites and attractions which together tell the story of the birth of
industrialisation in Europe in the 18th century and its subsequent spread across the continent
and beyond. The many and varied sites which make up this network offer visitors fascinating
insights into the processes, products, people and places which form the rich tapestry of the
history of the Industrial Revolution and its impact. ERIH’s Anchor Points share a seal of
excellence which promises their visitors a high quality experience at some of the best of
Europe’s industrial heritage attractions. Visitors of all ages can relive their industrial heritage
through fascinating guided tours, exciting multi-media presentations and outstanding special
events. Anchor Points are simultaneously starting points for a variety of regional routes. An
important element of the ERIH concept is its Regional Routes. These are marketing tools
which bring together a range of sites, large and small, to present the industrial heritage of
a particular area in a coordinated way. The routes are presented in an attractive, visitor-
friendly way which is designed to encourage visitors to explore what the routes have to offer.
A precondition for the development of an ERIH Regional Route is that the region has an
interesting industrial history and a sufficient number of sites which are attractive for visitors.
Just as each region is different, so the routes which tell their stories will differ in content and
presentation. The process of establishing and then maintaining a route can present challenges.
It is necessary to adhere to the steps that can be taken to maximize the benefits of a regional

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route and to ensure its lasting effectiveness in attracting visitors and attracting sites and
attractions. Regional Routes open up the industrial history of a region and each region has its
own specialisms. The strength of Regional Routes lies in the fact that they unite many different
traditions within a single idea. The Regional Routes link landscapes and sites which have left
their mark on the European industrial history. South Wales, for example, is a key region in the
World’s first industrial nation (ERIH, 2019: 1; 2017a: 72). Besides, there are different ways
to approach setting up a Regional Route: to establish a steering group, choice of theme and
selection of sites, to produce promotional material, training, launch of the Regional Route,
costs. Experience with the existing routes has shown that these steps would help achieve this:
management structure, tourism packages, special events, Duties of sites on Regional Routes
(ERIH, 2019: 1-4; 2017a: 72). There are 20 Regional Routes and 46 Anchor Points linked to
the ERIH network in Europe (Table 2).

Table 2. European regional routes of Industrial Heritage and Anchor Points (ERIH)

Country Regional Routes Anchor Points
1 Austria Styrian Iron Trail Erzberg Adventure
2 Berlin German Technical Museum, Nazi Forced
Euregio Meuse-Rhine Labour Documentation Centre
3 (Belgium, Germany, Beringen Mine Museum, Blegny Mine World
Netherlands) Heritage Site, Mueller Cloth Mill LVR
4 Hamburg Metropolitan Industrial Museum
Region
5 Hamburg Museum of Work
Industrial Valleys
Henrichshütte Steelworks LWL Industrial
6 Lusatia Museum, Hendrichs Drop Forge LVR
7 Industrial Museum
8 Germany North Hessen Saxon Museum of Industry/Knappenrode
Rhine-Main Energy Factory, F60 Overburden Conveyer
Bridge
9 Ruhr -
-
10 Saar-Lor-Lux Zollern II/IV Colliery LWL Industrial
Museum, North Landscape Park, Zollverein
11 Saxony Mine and Coking Plant World Heritage Site,
12 Saxony-Anhalt Henrichshütte Steelworks LWL Industrial
Museum, Gasometer, Henrichenburg
Shiplift LWL Industrial Museum
Musée les Mineurs Wendel/La Mine
Wendel, World Heritage Site Voelklingen
Iron Works, National Museum of Iron Ore
Mines
Saxon Museum of Industry/Chemnitz
Museum of Industry, August Horch Museum
Industry and Filmmuseum, Ferropolis-Town
of Iron

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13 Luxembourg Minett Tour National Museum of Iron Ore Mines
14 Netherlands HollandRoute Heineken Experience-Heineken Brewery,
Cruquius Museum, Netherlands Steam
15 Poland Silesia Machine Museum, Zaanse Schans
Historic Silver Mine World Heritage
16 Asturias Site, Tyskie Brewing Museum, “Guido”
17 Spain Basque Country Coal Mine, “Queen Louise” Adit, Żywiec
18 Brewery Museum
Catalonia Asturian Railway Museum, Pozo Soton Mine
Basque Railway Museum, La Encartada
19 South Wales Fabrika-Museoa, Añana Salt Valley
United Kingdom Museu Agbar de les Aigües, Catalonian
Museum of Science and Industry
20 Southwest Yorkshire Big Pit: National Coal Museum World
Heritage Site, National Waterfront Museum
Kelham Island Museum, National Coal
Mining Museum for England

Source: ERIH, regional routes

According to the table, the ERIH Regional Routes are mostly located in Germany
(11 routes). Of the Regional Routes already developed, there is considerable variation in
character and scale, from stunning architecture to dramatic landscapes, from domestic
communities to industrial giants. Currently, ERIH presents over 2000 sites of all branches
of industry from all European countries. The database of sites is continuously being
expanded. In addition to the attractive presentation of industrial history, a key selection
criterion for inclusion to the database is the accessibility of the site for visitors: during the
usual tourist season, i.e. summer, the location should be open at least two days a week.

Examples from ERIH Regional Routes

• The Cross-border Route: Euregio MeuseRhine (Belgium, Germany,

Netherlands)

The Cross-Border Route presents the variety of the region’s industrial heritage
(including mining, textiles, iron and steel, glass, paper, food) by 26 selected sites (4
ERIH Anchor Points, including a UNESCO World Heritage Site), while the association
operating the route has nearly 40 member sites (ERIH, 2019: 5). The three-nation region
around Liège, Maastricht and Aachen, known as the Euregio Maas-Rhine, has often been
described as Europe on a small scale. Nowadays, 3,700,000 people live here, around
half of whom live in Belgium, a third in Germany and a fifth in the Netherlands. Coal
mining, ore mining, iron and brass goods manufacturing, cloth-making, pottery – all these
trades had taken on almost global dimensions here long before the triumphal march of
the industrialisation. Coal mining, iron and steel -not forgetting the cloth industry- at
first remained the most important pillars of the Euregio Maas-Rhine economy in the
20th century. Nevertheless, all three major branches suffered a heavy period of crisis

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after the Second World War and they no longer play a central role in economic life today.
What remains are a huge number of museums and monuments which help to keep alive
the memory of the region’s extraordinary industrial history. Over 30 industrial museums
from five regions have been working together closely in a cross-border association since
1998. The association is also responsible for conceiving this particular ERIH Regional
Route (ERIH, 2017b).

With its three languages and five partner regions, the Euregio Meuse-Rhine

(EMR) is the most varied Euregio in the heart of Europe, but also the most complex. It

actively engages in the initiation of projects by bringing together competent actors. The

EMR connects, mediates and supports these actors and thus contributes to the success of

cross-border cooperation between the partner regions across national borders. The Border

Information Points (BIP) of Aachen-Eurode and Maastricht offer customized information

and advice free of charge on the subjects of working, living and studying in the

neighbouring country. All primary and lower secondary schools in the five partner regions

can participate in this programme, which will qualify them for the label of Euregio Profile

Schools (Euregio). Sustainable development will naturally be one of the overarching aims

of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine in 2020. Moreover, the Euregio Meuse-Rhine will be known

for its efforts concerning the green

economy, sustainable means of transport

and (ecology and energy) infrastructure,

environmental protection, and green

tourism. The EMR2020 strategy aims

to contribute to horizontal multi-

level governance. In this regard, the

EMR2020 strategy consists of five key

themes: (ı) Economy and innovation;

(ıı) Labour market, education and

training; (ııı) Culture and tourism;

(ıv) Health care; (v) Public safety; and

four transversal themes: (ı) Mobility

and infrastructure; (ıı) Sustainable

development; (ııı) Territorial analysis;

(ıv) Advocacy and regional promotion

Figure 1. The Cross-border Route: Euregio MeuseRhine: (EMR2020, 2013: 12) (Figure 1).

Museum of Stone (Belgium) • Regional Route: Industrial
Source: Museum of Stones

Valleys (Germany)

The ERIH Regional Route Industrial Valleys (Täler der Industriekultur) takes
visitors through one of the oldest industrial regions in Germany. In the low mountain
areas of Bergisch Land (Land of Berg), Sauerland, and Siegerland industrialization
started much earlier than, say, in the Ruhr district bordering in the north. As a matter of
fact, iron ore smelting in the Siegerland had been introduced by the Celts already 2300
years ago. When the English factory system began to spread in the 1840s, however, it

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soon caused massive amounts of squalor and poverty, due to its high vulnerability to
cyclical fluctuations. Child labor, wage dumping, payment of goods instead of wages,
and the lack of health care emerged as negative effects of the new industrial capitalism.
Friedrich Engels had been researching this kind of interdependencies, with focus
on Manchester, already in 1845. In 1848, he co-authored the Communist Manifesto
together with Karl Marx. 20 years later the Bergisch Land, influenced by Ferdinand
von Lassalle, had become a stronghold of the German worker’s movement. In contrast
with the today’s largely deindustrialized Ruhr area, the Bergisch Land, Sauerland and
Siegerland are still the industrial heartland of North Rhine-Westphalia. Numerous
of the predominantly medium sized
industrial companies rank as world
market leaders and hidden champions
(ERIH, 2017c). The route connects 20
attractive monuments in the region as
examples of its rich industrial heritage.
These include museums, iron and steel
mills, factories and transport facilities.
At the same time the network of sites
reveals their multifaceted links, not
only internally but well beyond the
immediate borders. The starting point
for the route is the Hendrichs Drop
Forge Museum in Solingen, one of the
six sites belonging to the Rhineland
Industrial Museum (Regional Route
Industrial Valleys) (Figure 2).
Figure: 2. Regional route industrial valleys: German

Museum of Wire (Germany)

Source: German Museum of Wire

• Regional Route: Silesia (Poland)
In the Polish Region of Silesia, the Industrial Monuments Route includes 42 sites,
5 of which are ERIH Anchor Points and 2 are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage
List (including mining, iron and steel, transport, communications and food) (ERIH, 2019:
5). Silesian Voivodeship can boast the highest number of historic industrial buildings in
Poland. Their uniqueness and authenticity enrich the region, reflecting its specificity and
cultural identity. They also constitute an integral part of the European cultural legacy. The
industrial development in Europe in the 18th Century brought significant socio-economic
and ecological changes in Silesia. The region, previously peripheral from the European
perspective, became one of the leaders in the industrial era. The activities run by the
authority allowed Silesia to bring in new technologies, machines and qualified staff. The
areas rich in raw materials became strewn with mine shafts, slag heaps and metallurgical
furnaces. Also, new towns were appearing. Following the pattern of 19th century

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governmental plants, private steelworks
were emerging, with adjacent coal
mines. Throughout the 20th century, the
Silesian metallurgy, integrally connected
with mining, was one of Europe’s
leaders in terms of technological
progress. Hence, the authorities of the
Silesian Voivodeship did bear in mind
the significance of monuments for the
history and identity of the region. A
project consisting of creating a network
of the most interesting monuments
connected with the industrial culture,
in terms of history and architecture,
was put into implementation. Thus, the Figure 3. Regional route Silesia: Ruda Śląska (Poland)
Silesian Industrial Monuments Route Source: Blast Furnace ‘A’ of Huta Pokój Ironworks
was established in October 2006. It is
not only a theme-motoring tourist route but also a branded tourist product and Poland’s
most interesting route as far as industrial tourism is concerned. All monuments on the
route are marked with a signboard written in three languages, including a description of
the monuments and information for tourists (Regional Route Silesia) (Figure 3).

• Regional Route: Basque Country (Spain)
The Basque Country is one of the most prosperous regions in southern Europe. With
approximately 2 million inhabitants, this region in the north of the Iberian Peninsula is
consisted of three provinces (Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa). The industrialisation process
started in 1841, coinciding with the move of the Spanish customs posts to the coast and
the border with France. A series of factors favoured the economic modernisation of the
region: an easy access to central Spain, the existence of Bilbao as the best maritime port in
the Cantabrian Sea, and the valuable iron ore deposits, which were decisive in the industrial
development of the Basque Country. Consequently, the industrial heritage handed down is
extremely rich and varied. The vicinity of the Bilbao Estuary was one of the largest industrial
concentrations in Europe, making a significant contribution to the configuration of the
present-day character and nature of the Basque Society. The strength, work and energy
that were once found along the fifteen kilometres of the Estuary assume a unique value as
they were witness to a tough but epic past. In spite of the differences in the industrialisation
process in the three Basque provinces, the Basque regional route connects 33 interesting sites
which are the best examples of its rich industrial heritage. All these elements have shaped
a unique landscape which deserves to be preserved, presented and passed on to future
generations as well as visitors wishing to find out more about the history of the country. The
museums and landscapes summarise and explain the industrial sectors which were key to
the social and economic development of the Basque Country: from mining landscapes to
foundries and iron and steel works, via the naval and agrifood industries, and not forgetting
civil engineering and the railways (Regional Route Basque Country)

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Thanks to its industrial history, the Basque Country is currently home to a wide
range of resources but, above all, provides many reasons to be a major World tourism

destination in terms of industrial
tourism. Currently, the Basque Country
has managed to recondition 10 Green
Ways, featuring over 180 km of former
train tracks which reveal the history,
culture and nature of this beautiful area
(Euskadi/Basque Country, 2019: 8, 59)
(Figure 4).

• Regional Route: South Wales
(United Kingdom)

In South Wales in the UK, The
Valleys that “Changed the World Route”
tells the story of the global impact of
Figure 4. Regional route Basque Country: The Igartza the region’s iron, steel, copper, tinplate
Monumental Complex (Spain) and coal production and the early

Source: The Igartza Monumental Complex industrial landscape it created. The

route lists 73 sites and attractions, of
which 2 are ERIH Anchor Points and 7 are ERIH Member Sites (ERIH, 2019: 5). Wales
played a leading role in the formative years of the Industrial Revolution in the production
of iron and steel, tinplate and coal. During the 19th century, families flooded into the
sparsely populated valleys of South Wales, seeking work in the emerging industries which
exploited the mineral resources of the area. In 1804, Richard Trevithick ran the world’s
first steam engine on iron rails near Merthyr. By 1840, South Wales had been the largest
producer of iron in the UK. By 1890, Cardiff had been the most important coal port in the
world. On the steep sides of the valleys, dense terraces of workers housing were hurriedly
built, together with numerous churches, chapels and workmen’s halls. The long ribbons of
urbanisation in the valleys were interspersed with coal mines with their huge waste tips
and iron and steel forges. Through the cramped valley floor ran polluted rivers, narrow
roads, canals and then railway systems serving the growing industrial communities. Here
a new industrial society emerged with sharp divisions between wealthy iron master and
colliery owners and the workers. As a result socialism grew as a significant political force
with international influence (Regional Route South Wales).

For example, “Blaenavon Ironworks” represents the full extent of the associated
historic landscape. Located at the gateway to the South Wales Valleys, partly within the
Brecon Beacons National Park, the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape is a testament to
the human endeavour of miners and ironworkers of the past. Before the Ironworks was
established, Blaenavon was a very small settlement with farmers living a quiet life in their
remote homes. In 1789, the Ironworks consisted of three blast furnaces utilising steam
power. It was immediately the second largest ironworks in Wales and one of the largest

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in the world. The opening of the Ironworks encouraged people across the UK and wider
afield to travel to Blaenavon in search of work. So the town grew an the streets filled with
shops, chapels, beer houses and family homes. The arrival of the railways and the opening
up of coal mines encouraged further expansion, resulting in the town that exist today. Set
in 33 square kilometres, the attractions, events, activities and landscape make a perfect
destination for a day out. The main attractions such as Big Pit National Coal Museum,
Blaenavon Ironworks, the World Heritage Centre and Blaenavon Heritage Railway are
all just a few minutes’ drive or walk from each other. In 2000, UNESCO inscribed the
Blaenavon Industrial Landscape as a World Heritage Site, for the part the area played
as the world’s major producer of iron and coal in the 19th Century. Today you can see
remains of all of the necessary elements needed for the iron and coal industry, including a
coal mine, furnaces, quarries, railway systems, ironworkers’ cottages, churches, chapels, a
school and a workmen’s hall. All set in a landscape that is favoured by walkers, cyclists and
mountain bikers (Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage Site Management Plan
2011-2016; Visit Blaenavon) (Figure 5a and 5b).

Figure 5a. Blaenavon Ironworks August 1798 Figure 5b. Blaenavon Ironworks, Aerial View 1992

Source: Blaenavon industrial landscape world heritage site management plan 2011-2016

Examples from ERIH Theme Routes

Each site of ERIH’s object database is assigned to one or more Theme Routes which
are structured according to industrial sectors. 14 Theme Routes (with 44 sub-categories)
focus on specific questions relating to the European industrial history and reveal -offen in
connection with the biographies- the potential links between radically different industrial
monuments all over Europe, such as “The Treasures of the Earth”: what, where, when
and how were they extracted from the ground? Or Textile manufacturing: what were the
milestones along the way from fibre to factory? Or Transport and communication: retracing
the tracks of the industrial revolution. The circuit diagram showing the connections
between the main themes of the European industrial heritage (ERIH, Theme Routes).
ERIH Theme Routes are in the table below (Table 3).

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Table 3. European theme routes of industrial heritage (ERIH)

Theme Routes Category Subcategory
Application of Power Electricity, gas, nuclear, oil, steam, water, mind
Communication Masse media, printing, telecomunication
Adaptive re-use, entrepreneurs’ mansions, industrial
Housing and Architecture architecture of the 20th century, outstanding industrial
architecture, planned industrial villages, workers’ housing
Industry and War -
Iron and Steel Furnaces, good from iron and steel
Industrial Landscapes -
Mining Black coal mining, brown coal mining, mining of non-ferrous
Paper metals
-
Production & Manufacturing Armaments, beer, building, materials, ceramics, porcellane,
glass, chemical products, cutlery, enginieering, food, drink,
Salt fishing, agriculture, tobacco, gold, silver, jewellery, clocks,
Service and Leisure Industry coins, leather, wood, timber
Textiles -
-
Transport Clothing (and other textile) manufactures, cotton, linen,
flax, hemp, jute, silk, wool
Water Aviation, motor vehicles and roads, railway Rolling stock
Xtra: Company Museums and railways, ships, harbours, rivers ande, canals, street
Xtra: UNESCO World Heritage tramways and omnibuses
Drinking water, sewage disposal, power from water
-
-

Source: ERIH Theme Routes

Below, 3 examples of ERIH Theme Routes are introduced:

• European Theme Route: Industrial Landscapes
It was only around the end of the 19th century, with the second wave of
industrialisation, that exposed mining tips and soot-ridden workshops, endless terraces
of cheap grey housing and networks of railway lines began to merge into huge areas of
industrial landscape. Early, quasi-industrial economic activities also left their mark on
the landscape, even in ancient times. Above all the insatiable need for timber which was
irreplaceable both as a building material and for fuel led to the deforestation and erosion
of complete regions. Reports by contemporary witnesses in the Rhondda Valley, in South
Wales, clearly show how everything was turned upside down by heavy industry. At its
peak, over 400 coalmines were operating along the River Rhondda and its tributaries,
and rows of terraced houses merged into unbroken lines along the black valleys beneath

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eternal clouds of smoke. In the 20th century Germany expanded its activities in the area of
brown coal mining, another industry requiring a huge amount of land. Since thousands of
tons of coal are missing at the end of mining activities, huge holes remain in the landscape
which are gradually filled up with pumped off groundwater. Since the end of brown coal
mining in East Germany, people there have been trying to regenerate the land for leisure
activities (European Theme Routes Industrial Landscapes).

There are 17 ERIH Anchor Points on the Industrial Landscapes Theme Routes.
North Landscape Park (Duisburg/Germany), for example, is one of them. This 200 hectare
area is a clear example of how nature and industrial heritage match each other to perfection.
On a site where workers were once pouring pig iron, there are 28 kilometres of cycle paths
and rambling trails running through a unique landscape park now. Children can also
enjoy themselves on a giant slide, stroll along a nature study trail or visit a farmyard. The
steam blast house, the foundry and the 170 metre long central power station are popular
showplaces for exotic, high-class events and artistic shows. Europe’s largest artificial diving
centre has been created in an old gasometer here. Former ore storage bunkers have been
transformed into an alpine climbing garden while a high ropes course has been set up in
a casthouse and a disused blast furnace
has been equipped with a viewing
tower. The highlight of the park is the
light installation by the British artist
Jonathan Park. Visitors can experience
this in the evenings when the ironworks
are bathed in a fascinating sea of light
and colour (European Theme Routes
Industrial Landscapes) (Figure 6).

• European Theme Route:
Service and Leisure
Industry

The precursor of the huge Figure 6. European theme route industrial landscapes:
department stores was Les Halles which North Landscape Park (Duisburg/Germany)
were built in Paris in the middle of the Source: North Landscape Park

19th century as huge and legendary
market halls. The forerunners of this
kind in France, from around the middle of the 19th century, were the large permanent
Circus Halls. Smaller towns also had their own Hippodrome, as the halls were often called,
where spectacular horse shows, circus shows and operatic performances took place:
there were even water battles as in the ancient Roman circuses. Public film shows, on the
other hand, started in Paris in 1895 and quickly became the leading mass medium. The
over-decorated facades of the first cinema buildings, which were built around 1910 in
many towns, showed that films were at first regarded as a form of fairground attraction.
The amusement park tradition in the European capitals had also developed in the 19th

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century. The Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, based on London parks and built in 1843,
were equipped from the start with exotic buildings, concert stages and fairground rides.
Apart from the amusement parks, seaside piers began to spring up in British coastal resorts
at the end of the 19th century. Competition between the various seaside resorts triggered
off further investment and soon pleasure piers became one of the main characteristics
of the Victorian époque. Attractions offered on piers included orchestral concerts, ice-
skating and penny-slot machines; all of them just a few metres above the waves (European
Theme Route Service and Leisure Industry). Similarly, the Port Cable Car (El Teleférico
del Puerto), which is one of the prominent tourist attractions of Barcelona today, was
conceived in 1926 as part of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. The aerial cable
car passes for 1,3 km across the old harbour of Barcelona from the hillside of Montjuïc to
Barceloneta. It was closed during the Spanish Civil War when the towers were used by the
military. It began operating again in 1963 and a major restoration was completed in 2000.
The original cars are still in use and they give spectacular views over the city (Port Cable
Car) (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Port cable car (Barcelona/Spain)
Source: Port cable car

• European Theme Route: Textiles
The thousands of rattling bobbins on the spinning frames in cotton factories
have become a byword for industrialisation. The British cotton mills were indeed the
forerunners of, and models for, the industrial revolution. Yet, the first textile factory
was a silk twining mill. The five-storey building was constructed in Derby as early as
1720. One of the forerunners of mechanisation was John Kay’s flying shuttle which he
invented in 1733. The final major change was the ring spinning machine, which was much
more reliable. It was developed in 1828 in the USA and slowly established itself in Great
Britain, where spinning was already strongly mechanised. The port of Liverpool with
its major exchange and the expanding industrial city of Manchester made the county of
Lancashire the leading textile region in the world. Since mechanisation in weaving came
much later than in spinning, other countries were able to keep pace with Great Britain.
Competitive weaving industries arose primarily in the New England states of the USA, in
France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. These also contributed to further technical

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improvements. For example, a French man by the name of Joseph Maria Jacquard
made possible the automatic production of pattern weaving by punching designs into
pattern cards joined together to form a continuous chain. The weavers operated the first
industrialised jacquard machines by foot. The industrial revolution in cotton processing
had no fundamental repercussions on other branches of industry. But centralised
manufacture in factories radically transformed the economic and social life. Tensions
between capital and labour replaced an agrarian landowning system (European Theme
Route Textiles).

There are 27 ERIH Anchor Points on the European Theme Route Textiles network.
Pratovecchio, which is one these Anchor Points, witnessed the hustle of the most important
textile factories in Italy around 1900. This success was not a coincidence since the Casentino
people were experts on the art of wool manufacture. The first Lanificio di Stia Company
was established in 1852, when a modern
entrepreneurial activity had been organized in
a few decades to concentrate the various phases
of wool processing in a single factory. Following
the crisis started in the 1960s, the Lanificio
failed in 1985 and closed definitively in 2000.
Nowadays, the plant, as a wonderful sample of
industrial archaeology, comes back to life not as
a production plant but as a cultural centre related
to the textile industry of the Casentino area. The
tools that were needed to shear, to wash, to comb
and card, to spin and weave wool can be touched
by visitors as well. Audio samples create the
appropriate background noise and interviews
with former factory workers revive the daily
routine of the past (European Theme Route Figure 8. European theme route textiles:
Museum of the Art of Woolmaking (Italy)

Textiles; Museo dell’Arte della Lana) (Figure 8). Source: Museo dell’Arte della Lana

Industry Routes in the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe

A Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe is a tool to demonstrate European
citizenship. A cultural itinerary is formed by diferent poin points (geographical points in
diferent countries) that share a common heritage or that have been historically travelled
along. Travellers along a cultural itinerary must be able to recognise the points in common:
heritage, landscape, gastronomy, monuments, art/crafts … even a way of life (Berti,
2015a: 16). The cultural routes of the Council of Europe, with thousands of sites across
Europe, o¬ffer an abundance of opportunities to become immersed in a rich, diverse
and shared European heritage. The particular focus of the programme is to highlight less
well-known destinations, including many in rural areas. As 90% of the cultural routes
cross rural areas, largely away from over-visited tourist destinations, the programme

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offers a valuable contribution to local and regional development based on authenticity
and shared respect for the preservation of the local cultural and natural environment.
Moreover, the cultural routes are excellent partners for universities and other research
and academic institutions in the field of preservation and management of tangible and
intangible heritage. The cultural routes also include hundreds of educational programmes
and learning opportunities for people of all ages. There are 40 routes in the Council of
Europe Cultural Routes as of 2020. Three of them are directly belong to industrial heritage
(Council of Europe, 2020b: 2, 7) (Table 4).

Table 4. The cultural routes of the council of Europe

Year Cultural Routes Countries
1987 Santiago de Compostela Belgium, France, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland,
1991 Pilgrim Routes Portugal, Spain
The Hansa Germany, Belgium, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland,
1993 Russian Federation, Sweden
1994 Viking Route Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland,
1997 Via Francigena Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden,
2003 Routes of El Legado Andalusí United Kingdom
2003 Phoenicians’ Route France, Italy, Switzerland, UK
2004 Iron Route in the Pyrenees Italy, Portugal, Spain
European Mozart Ways Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy,
2004 Malta, Spain
European Route of Jewish Andorra, France, Spain
2005 Heritage Germany, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece,
2005 Italy, Switzerland, Ukraine, UK
2005 Saint Martin of Tours Route Germany, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and
2005 Cluniac Sites in Europe Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France,
2007 Routes of the Olive Tree Georgia, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Via Regia Serbia, Spain, Turkey, UK
2009 Transromanica Germany, Belgium, Croatia, France, Hungary, Italy,
Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Slovenia
2010 Iter Vitis Route Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, UK
Albania, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece,
European Route of Cistercian Italy, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Slovenia,
Abbeys Spain, Turkey
Germany, France, Poland, Ukraine
Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania,
Serbia, Slovak Republic, Spain
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Cyprus, France,
Georgia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Republic
of Moldova, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania,
Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, UK
Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France,
Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, UK

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2010 European Cemeteries Route Germany, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
2010 Prehistoric Rock Art Trails Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
2010 European Route of Historic Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK
2010 Thermal Towns Azerbaijan, Finland, France, Georgia, Italy, Norway,
2012 Route of Saint Olav Ways Portugal, Spain,
2013 European Route of Ceramics Germany, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Czech
2013 European Route of Megalithic Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary,
2014 Culture Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, UK
2014 Huguenot and Waldensian Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
2014 Trail Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland,
2015 Atrium Spain, Turkey, UK
2015 Réseau Art Nouveau Network Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain,
2015 Via Habsburg Sweden, UK
2015 Roman Emperors and Danube
2016 Wine Route Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland
2018 European Routes of Emperor
2018 Charles V Albanie, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Romania,
Destination Napoleon Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy,
2019 In the Footsteps of Robert Latvia, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia,
Louis Stevenson Spain, Switzerland
2019 Fortified Towns of the Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland
2019 Grande Region
Impressionisms Routes Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia
Via Charlemagne
Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands,
European Route of Industrial Portugal, Spain
Heritage Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France,
Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain
Iron Curtain Trail
Le Corbusier Destinations: Germany, France, UK
Architectural Promenades
Germany, France

Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France,
Greece, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands,
Poland, Russian Federation, Slovenia
Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland
Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
Ukraine, UK
Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Serbia, Slovak
Republic, Turkey

Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland

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2019 Liberation Route Europe Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, France,
2019 Netherlands, UK
2020 Routes of Reformation Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy,
2020 European Route of Historic Poland, Slovenia Switzerland
Gardens
Via Romea Germanica Germany, Georgia, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain

Germany, Austria, Italy

Source: Explore all cultural routes by country

• Iron Route in the Pyrenees
The Pyrenees region is rich in iron ore and has a centuries-old iron-making
tradition. This activity generated economic wealth, and there remains a great deal of
evidence of its past glories. Forestry, mining and processing factories have left substantial
traces in both the rural and urban fabric of the mountain range. The industrial heritage is
an essential component of the wealth of societies. In particular, the working of iron in the
Pyrenees left behind an important heritage, including mines, charcoal kilns and ironworks,
as well as miners’ and ironworkers’ homes, some typical features of ironworks architecture
and a series of contemporary sculptures. This route is a pleasant and interesting walk,
suitable for all members of the public, through mountain scenery and combining culture
and industrial history. Important sites include the Rossell Forge-Iron Interpretation Centre,
the Llorts Mine, the Route of the Arrieros and the Iron Men Route, Iglesia de San Martín de
la Cortinada and the Casa d’Areny-Piandolit Museum (Iron Route in the Pyrenees).
Studies show that this path had been chosen by communities and forge-masters
because it was the one that best adapted to the social and economic environment of the
forges. Gradually, the forge-men introduced innovations that could be imported (exchange
of ideas) or resulted from improvements marked by local workers. The wide range of
technical responses makes a clear geographical and chronological distinctions, but in any
case the close link between industry and ecosystem was maintained because the shaft
furnace was feeded by the charcoal obtained from the forests close to factories and rivers.
Finally, in late 19th and 20th century, this industry mutated to preserve its leading role in
the European iron market. The evidence of relationship between these various Pyrenean
iron and steel industries confers an unequivocal thematic unity on the region that extends
from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean. Technical and commercial exchanges
transcend the borders between regions or states. This common industrial culture reveals
a convergence of interests among the heritage programs developed in Pyrenees (Andorra,
Catalonia, Basque Country, Ariège and Aquitania) and its basing the first transnational
collaborative network which obtained the certification of European Cultural Itinerary
(CdE). Its purpose is to promote the sharing of experiences and skills on conservation and
diffusion of steel heritage, mines and iron landscape. The initiative was consolidated by
the creation of an international association, the Pirinean Iron Route, dedicaded to heritage
and tourism. This network is a representative forum open to all professionals who share
the same point of concern: protect and enhance the memory of iron by creating common

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cultural products for educational and general public. Iron Route Itineraries are divided
into 3 groups (The Iron Mountain) (Table 5):

Table 5. Pyrenees iron route itineraries by theme, location and visit type

Grouping Forge Iron Work Itineraries ALL
Theme Mines

Location Andorra Arriege Basque Country Pyrénées ALL
Catalonia Atlantiques

Visit Type Itineraries Museums and ALL
Source: The Iron Mountain Monuments

One of the places to visit on the Iron Route in the Pyrenees is the “Zerain Cultural
Landscape”. Zerain is a community which has lived close to agriculture and sheepherding
while natural resources have also been exploited, such as minerals, wood, coal, etc. Zerain
Cultural Landscape is a project of the future aimed at designing the natural and human
landscape by promoting high quality agricultural products and recovering a full heritage
(the mines, the prison, the ethnological museum, the Larraondo hydraulic sawmill, etc.)
in order to be exhibited later. Starting
at the 11. century and going through
centuries, iron has been mined at every
corner of the 150 hectares of the Aizpea
mines. Thanks to this mining activity,
a special landscape has evolved- the
landscape of the iron lands. In 1951,
the mines were closed forever, due to
the low profitability it had. The Iron
Mountain still preserves a big amount
of interesting mining remnants:

underground galleries, quarries,

rail tracks, inclined planes, Aizpitta

Interpretation Centre, calcinations Figure 9. Iron route in the pyrenees: Zerain Cultural
Landscape/The Iron Mountain (Spain)
furnaces, blacksmith’s workshop, powder Source: The Iron Mountain
storages (The Iron Mountain) (Figure 9).

• European Route of Ceramics
The ceramics industry has contributed not only to Europe’s economic development
but also to its heritage and social history. The European Route of Ceramics is a Cultural
Route certified by the Council of Europe since 2012 and it aims at giving value to the cultural
heritage linked to the production of ceramics and its old tradition, creating a sustainable
and competitive tourism offer not only based on the artistic productions and collections

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(workshops and museums), but also on the whole cultural and social development that these
destinations have lived over the years (The European Route of Ceramics). The European
Route of Ceramics helps visitors to discover what goes on behind the scenes of ceramics
production and oers several hands-on opportunities (Council of Europe, 2020b: 5). The
ceramics identity, which continues to shape many cities across Europe, is now accessible
by travellers along the European Route of Ceramics. The route aims to make the European
ceramics heritage more accessible to European citizens, by promoting a dynamic image
of this heritage, both physical, with objects used in several sectors (culinary activities,
the arts, medicine, architecture, etc.), and intangible, including the know-how and crafts
necessary for its production. The route offers tours around the cities like Limoges, Delft,
Faenza, Selb or Höhr-Grenzhausen that give visitors a chance to discover what goes on
behind the scenes of ceramics production, by taking a look at the backstage or by trying
out the crafts thanks to several hands-on opportunities (European Route of Ceramics).
One of the members of the European Route of Ceramics is the İznik Foundation from
Turkey. The founding aims of the Iznik Training and Education Foundation are to publicize
the culture and artistic assets of Iznik and its surrounding communities, to activate the
current potentials of the area, to systematize both existing information and any new
information obtained regarding the traditional art of Iznik tile, and to pass this knowledge
on to current and future generations through training and education (European Route
of Ceramics). The European Route of
Ceramics aims to create a sustainable
and competitive tourism offer not only
based on the artistic productions and
collections (workshops and museums),
but also on the whole cultural
and social development that these
destinations have lived over the years.
The following events were organized in
the Route in 2020: International Potters

Market-Oesterreichischer Toepfermarkt Figure 10. The European route of ceramics: Delft,
Gmunden, La Ceramica Italiana Prinsenhof Museum (Netherlands)
Guarda al Futuro-Italian Ceramics Source: The European Route of Ceramics

Potters Market (Faenza), Day of the

Open Memory-A Guided Tour to the

Monument Porcelain Factory, Indoor Ceramics Market in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Boleslawiec
Ceramics Festival (The European Route of Ceramics) (Figure 10).

• European Route of Industrial Heritage

With over 1800 locations in all European countries, the European Route of Industrial
Heritage invites visitors to explore the milestones of European industrial history. As places
of a common European memory, they bear witness to scientific discoveries, technological
innovation and workers’ life histories. A total of 14 Theme Routes highlight the European

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

Figure 11. European route of industrial heritage: context of industrialisation. More
Carreau Wendel Mine (France) than 100 industrial Anchor Points,
Source: ERIH. Images of European industrial heritage each with a particular attractive
tourist programme including guided
tours, multimedia presentations
and outstanding events, provide the
backbone of the European Route of
Industrial Heritage. Major events such
as the “ExtraSchicht-The Night of
Industrial Heritage” in the Ruhr area or
“Industriada” in Silesia, Poland, attract
hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Smaller industrial monuments also
find their audiences with 20 regional
routes illustrating the geographical
and social impact of local industrial
plants. Today, all these testimonies to
the industrial past form a Europe-wide
tourist network. (European Route of
Industrial Heritage) (Figure 11).

Urban Industrial Heritage Routes of the Council of Europe

For many cities, abounded industrial sites are the significant “reserves of space”,
and their regeneration represents an important mechanism for improving the quality of
urban environment and achieving sustainable development. On the other hand, abounded
and underused industrial sites are at the same time potentially significant and valuable
industrial and cultural heritage and part of the urban memory, as well as material evidence
of the past. In this sense, the revitalization of these areas is a necessary step in preventing
the continued deterioration of the remains of the industrial past and its fundamental
intention is to preserve the integrity of the material witnesses of a historical epoch. The
benefits of restoration and preservation of valuable industrial heritage are manifold: the
preservation of the urban landscape, economic and social revitalization of urban areas
passivated, deliberate targeting of development with the introduction of control of land
use and rules (Đukić et al., 2017: 59-60). With the Industrial Revolution in Europe, many
industrial facilities or sites developed in the close and distant areas of existing cities or
completely in rural areas. Until today, some of these places either have remained within
the growing cities or have played a role in the formation of contemporary cities or towns
by receiving migrants. Today, these places, which have turned into industrial heritage in
or near cities, have been opened to visitors through renovations and have also become a
part of urban tourism. Industrial heritage routes have even taken place within the in-city
tourist routes. The distinctive and unique city image is the main strategy to draw more
tourists (Uoosang et al., 2012: 2). Below is an example of Berlin and Hamburg.

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The Revitalization of the European Industrial Heritage ... Füsun BAYKAL

• Route of Industrial Heritage in Berlin (Germany)
Berlin was the greatest industrial metropolis on the European continent. Berlin
has a greater number of outstanding historical exemplars of industrial development than
any other European metropolis. Whether in Wedding, Schöneweide or Tempelhof – this
city has made an international economic and architectural history with its electrical
industry, its mechanical engineering and railway construction, its telecommunications
and wireless technology sector, its textile and fashion industry or even with its food
processing engineering enterprises. At the beginning of the 20th century, Berlin’s industrial
development was always intertwined with global dynamics. Berlin’s industrial heritage
offers a multilayered coexistence of industrial facilities that are still used for their
original purpose or have been creatively converted to other uses- or are simply vacant.
Each of these conditions requires its own concept for dealing with the industrial legacy.
On one hand, conditions must be created to allow the continued existence and further
development of active industries while on the other, innovative ways must be found to
enable conversion, interim use and alternate use without destroying the original character
of the places in the process. The task of any sustainable urban development is to remain
true to the identity of an industrial metropolis in order to assure local cultural continuity
(Berlin Center for Industrial Heritage, 2015). The importance of Berlin as an industrial
metropolis can therefore still be seen in today’s cityscape, where heritage buildings and
monuments to technology have been preserved in a way which is almost unique. This
is primarily the case for products of the electro-technical revolution. A large number
of them accommodate new forms of use today. Art and culture, museums, restaurants,
youth hostels, hotels and event locations now attract visitors to experience the special
atmosphere of former industrial buildings.
Berlin’s Route of Industrial Heritage is under construction. It links locations which
demonstrate the technological, economic and social history of the city. The German
Museum of Technology is the route’s Anchor Point. It offers a comprehensive overview of
all aspects of the history of technology. The Berliner Zentrum Industriekultur (BZI) is the
coordinator of the route. It is a scientific institution at the University of Applied Sciences
(HTW) Berlin and a cooperation project between the HTW and the German Museum

Figure 12. Route of industrial heritage in Berlin: The German Museum of Technology
Source: The German Museum of Technology

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

of Technology Foundation. The map of industrial heritage offers an overview of the city’s
rich industrial heritage in addition to sites on the Route of Industrial Heritage (Regional
Route Berlin). The locations and partners of the Route of Industrial Heritage in Berlin are
exemplary of the technological, economic and social history of the city. The Junior Route
also bundles offers for school classes and groups of children and young people (Berliner
Zentrum Industriekultur, 2020) (Figure 12).

• Hamburg Metropolitan Region (Germany)

The Hamburg Metropolitan Region is typical with its geographical position on
the Elbe River and the shores of the North Sea’s German Bight. Industrial and other
historical relics with connections to
the river and water are reminders
of the distinctive development
history of this landscape. The
region encompasses an industrial-
cultural water landscape, not to be
easily found anywhere else. The
Hamburg Metropolitan Region and
its surrounding areas comprise a
special industrial region, but its
appearance is not defined by the
clusters of chimneys or huge stores
of raw materials. The machinery of
industrialisation has often become
a part of the landscape over time,
almost disappearing into the vastness
Figure 13. Hamburg metropolitan Region: Osten– of the cultural space, which is what

Hemmoor Transporter Bridge

Source: Osten–Hemmoor Transporter Bridge makes it so appealing.

The city of Hamburg has always
been one of the world’s largest seaports. Industry in the city and the region has been
closely linked to the history of the port. Many of its engineering works and shipyards,
fish processors and oil mills, rubber and copper producing factories and, more recently,
the aerospace industry are or were world class. Industrial monuments in the Hamburg
Metropolitan Region often define the landscape. Hamburg can boast impressive port
facilities and ships, whilst along the Ilmenau in Lüneburg a series of monuments hark
back to the operation of the historic salt works (Regional Route Hamburg Metropolitan
Region).

In the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, the urban-industrial heritage consisting of
ports, maritime industries and industrial landscapes is visited by various organized tours.
In the region, which has been renovated with a great urban transformation in recent years,
old industrial buildings have gained new functions such as a cultural center, museum,
hotel, restaurant, thus the region has gained touristic value. There are also 4 other industry

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The Revitalization of the European Industrial Heritage ... Füsun BAYKAL

routes in the immediate vicinity of Hamburg. (ı) Route of Industrial Culture Geesthacht:
With the help of 20 stations, important milestones in the development of industrial
history in Geesthacht and the surrounding area can be recalled. (ıı) Route of Industrial
Culture Lauenburg: The Schifferstadt at the intersection of the Elbe and the Elbe-Lübeck
Canal has a wide range of evidence of industrial culture to offer, which can be individually
discovered on a tour. (ııı) Route of Industrial Culture Schwerin: Schwerin is traditionally
considered a tranquil Mecklenburg residence but it has also been an industrial city with
modern supply and transport systems for a century. Industrial culture in Schwerin is
often atypical, but can be found everywhere in the city. (ıv) Route of Industrial Culture
Neumünster: Neumünster has had factory chimneys in its coat of arms since 1929 because
the city was proud of its symbols of strength and progress. Mechanical engineering in
Neumünster is almost as old as the textile industry. In particular, the decline of the leather
and cloth industries in the 1960s hit Neumünster hard. The traces of the past can still be
found all over the city today (Regional Route Hamburg Metropolitan Region).

Discussion and Conclusions

Heritage is the re-use of history and has become a current issue for contemporary
purposes such as conservation, education, development, tourism etc. When it comes
to industrial heritage, which ones are used for what purpose is an important problem.
In addition, how to preserve, revitalize and re-use the industrial heritage and what
the method and model will be, should be thought in detail both for the local residents
and future generations. The route approach as one of the most up-to-date approaches
is carried out with programs, projects, networks and certificate studies to revive the
European industrial heritage. The only official institution of Cultural Routes is the Council
of Europe. Furthermore, ERIH, which has a wide network today, has undertaken an
important mission in route creation, management and sustainability.

The recommendations of the Council of Europe for the use of routes based on
industrial heritage without losing their value, both as a heritage and as a route, are as
follows: Cooperation should be made with public institutions, organizations and foreign
partners. Proponents of a planned European Cultural Route should not be afraid to start
working together with participants from tourism at an early stage to use their marketing
and customer networks. On the other hand, tourism service providers are well advised
to work closely with cultural initiatives as well as youth organizations. Especially for
peripheral touristic areas, Cultural Routes offer the chance to get integrated into a broader
tourist project. In this context, regular evaluation of the performance and impact of the
Council of Europe’s Cultural Routes is increasingly important for a continuous and more
accurate tracking and estimations of their progress, capacity, needs and requirements.
The ability to map social, economic and environmental impact is also essential for the
sustainable development of Cultural Routes, quality management of their tangible and
intangible heritage, and communication with citizens, taxpayers, political leaders,
investors and other stakeholders.

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223



INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AND ITALIAN
IMMIGRATION IN THE SOUTH OF
BRAZIL

Vania B.M. HERÉDIA 1 - Giovanni LUIGI FONTANA2

Abstract

The study aims to present the relationship between working cultures of the
nineteenth and twentieth century, between workers who left the city of Schio-Italy, and
came as immigrants to the South of Brazil, carrying in their baggage a wealth of technical
knowledge which led to the creation of a textile cooperative. The industrial heritage that
emerges from these two cultures shows the strength of immigrant labor as social mobility,
and ethnicity, as a link between cultures that talk to each other, stemming from the origin
of their ancestors, who lived in a society in transition where the textile industry was
a space of work, of “social status” and worker identity. The results of the study show
the presence of two distinct worlds that intersect and that constitute the strength of the
industrial patrimony that remain until the present day, giving life to this working village.

1 Dr. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Department of Anthropology.

e-mail: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-4743-3394

2 Prof. Dr., Unıversity di Padova Dıpartımento Dı Scıenze Storıche, Geografıche E Dell’antıchıtã - Dıssgea.

e-mail:[email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-4743-3394

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Introduction

Heritage studies in Social Sciences are fundamental to understand the past and
guard to ensure its non-destruction. Heritage study offers a series of possibilities for
reading how collective life was organized in societies built on pillars of cultures that
have changed. In Brazil, which is a country that has only five centuries of history,
heritage studies allow readings about its past, mainly in the analysis of its material
and immaterial heritage. However, only in the 20th century there was a concern
on the part of Brazilian society to promote the preservation of cultural assets that
represent it.

The discussion on national heritage in Brazil is late and begins in the
administration of Getúlio Vargas (1930-1945/1950-1954), a nationalist government
that values h​​ eritage because it unites the concepts of “nation” and “culture” with
purposes of promoting heritage. This government adopts an economic model,
different from the previous ones, which is based on the substitution of imports, which
represents a development based on the country and not on external interests. The
nationalist posture of this government makes room for heritage preservation actions,
under the tutelage of the State, with the creation of the Historical and Artistic Heritage
Service (Sphan).

According to studies carried out by Chuva, Sphan’s action protected the national
heritage, as this Service is seen as a marker of the “genesis and consecration of the
notion of national heritage3” (CHUVA, 2017, p. 25). This Service promoted a series
of actions that aimed to preserve cultural assets that contributed to the construction
of the Nation. These actions, led by the Minister of Education and Health, Gustavo
Capanema, included modernist intellectuals who collaborated in the defense of
modernist architectural production in Brazil. From this context, it is understandable
that the preservation of cultural assets is recent in the country if compared to other
countries that use their national heritage as elements of national identification, feelings
of belonging and national culture. It is important to include in this study that, during
the government of Getúlio Vargas4, there was a strong nationalization campaign
where many regions that had been occupied with foreign manpower were affected in
order to ensure that their measures of making an integrated country, with a notion of
an integrated nation, were successful, despite the evident regional differences.

3 “In Brazil, considering, among other aspects, that the Sphan, from 1937-1946, legally protected more than 40% of all listed
heritage until the beginning of the 21st century” (CHUVA, 2017, p. 25).

4 The Nationalization Campaign in the Getúlio Vargas’s government was intended to centralize national power, in an
authoritarian way, in defense of the nation. Rio Grande do Sul was one of the states in which this campaign had a lot of
influence, especially in regions where immigration had been very intense, such as the case of municipalities formed by
German, Italian, Polish, Austrian and French immigrants. The Portuguese language was defined in immigrant communities
as mandatory and the use of the language of the countries of origin was prohibited. This is one of the aspects used for
national integration that affects the heritage built by these immigrants where they settled.

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Thus, the present study5 was divided into two parts: the first one that reflects on
the importance of studies on industrial heritage in Brazil as ways of preserving collective
memory in regions where there was influence of European emigration in the country;
and the second, which deals with a case study that explains how this industrial heritage
was formed, its relationship with the country of origin, the transfer of technologies by
Italian emigrants, the formation of a workers’ village with the intention of ensuring the
maintenance of this workforce and the construction of an ethnic memory located in this
heritage.

Why Preserve Industrial Heritage in Brazil?

The concern for the preservation of the industrial patrimony in Brazil is
recent and the discussion about “industrial archeology” occurs when many industrial
buildings are destroyed and the locations where they are installed lose their identities.
The preservation of the industrial patrimony can offer to society the history of a cultural
good from the past where it is possible to describe how the production processes
happened, inserted in the city. The industrial archeology can be understood as:

The multidisciplinary efforts of inventories,
records, historical-documentary researches and
iconography, interviews, metric surveys and analyzes of
artifacts and buildings and sets and their transformation
over time, their materials, their structures, its current
pathologies, its insertion in the city or territory, its form
of connection with the various sectors of society, its
forms of reception and perception, and being recognized
as a cultural good (KUHL, 2006, p.2)

It is important to remember that there are many kinds of significant goods,
and in order to study them, it is necessary to see where they fit. According to Kuhl
(2006, p.5), in the analysis of the patrimony, it is necessary not to forget that “they
are always unique testimonials, not repeatable and therefore, the proposals must be
based on rigorous criteria”. To know the industrial patrimony is to know the history of
industrialization in the past and in the present; it is to see how the transmission of the
diverse knowledge that made the transformation and that were important for that period
was due. It is the transmission of the culture of technique. Mello e Silva (2006, p. 2)
explains that industrial archeology:

5 This study was developed through bibliographic and documentary research, whose sources are public records available in
the João Spadari Adami Historical Archive of the Municipality of Caxias do Sul, industrial footprints, with documents on
the evolution of the factory, growth of capital, technological investment in the collections of the former São Pedro Wool
Factory and Sehbe Wool Factory, photographic records, as well as field research with former workers and administrative
leaders. About the Italian workers, the collection on the historiography of the Italian emigration to Brazil, located in
“Università degli Studi di Padova”, was used, as well as the several publications made by Prof. Giovanni Luigi Fontana
and by the Lanerossi industry documents, available at the Schio Civic Library. The bibliographical research focused on two
fundamental points: the baggage of the Italian workers who founded the textile cooperative in the south of Brazil and the
development of the cooperative that results in the construction of this industrial patrimony.

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necessarily includes this dynamic aspect of
culture [...] For the link to be established, it is necessary
that the traces and the material marks be maintained,
preserved. These brands must be confronted to other
sources, especially the testimony of the population, their
descendants who experienced the environment in which
those factories worked.

Another relevant datum for the analysis of the industrial patrimony is the possibility
to follow the changes that occurred in the factory from the changes in the equipment, situated
in a sociohistorical context. Mello and Silva assume that “to follow the changes in the lineage
of the factory machinery (and its built-in environment) is to follow a history of the technique
that inserts it within a certain material culture” (2006, p.3). In addition to the machinery that is
linked to the production, one can make an inventory of other instruments used in the production
process that illustrate the form of production. From the listed assets, it is important to include
the assets that represented the collective life to which the factory was linked, namely, housing,
institutions linked to the factory such as the school, the cinema, the square, the soccer field, the
main store, among other buildings of historical value and collective memory.

The study of the workers’ villages is also part of the study of the industrial patrimony.
The workers’ villages, encrusted in neighborhoods, characterized as working ones, are
a demonstration of the relationship and of the linkage of the production of the industry to
the producer, a testimonial of that history. For Fontana, the creaton of workers’villages and
company towns has characterized all stages of industrialization, adapting to technological and
organizational changes, to political and social shifts and to different entrepreneurial cultures:

Methods and types of projects have changed over
time. They have been influenced by historical, economic,
geographical and cultural factors; the specific dynamics
of sectors and companies; changes in governments,
strategies, company styles and labour relations in
individual companies; the impact of industrial activities
on towns and territories; competition with the public
and State policies. All this has generated well-defined
models. However, in spite of having much in common,
many projects have shown considerable differences from
one company to another, and even sometimes between
sections of the same company. Traditions, cultures, past
experiences, expectations and claims have deeply affected
the complex interactions and reciprocal influences at play
among the parties involved (FONTANA, 2020, p. 19).

For Mello and Silva, the studies of industrial heritage are “a field of living research
[...] not limited only to a set of architectural goods or sites full of objects and parts of
interesting objects” (2006, p. 1). This observation indicates that behind the architectural
assets in the factories there was some technical making and to analyze this knowledge
is a form of present transmission about a past that can reveal the transformations that
the manufacturing processes suffered because of the technological changes. The know-
how may be considered an intangible asset against the material patrimony represented by
instruments, equipment, machines and buildings.

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Nizhny Tagil’s Charter for the Industrial Heritage, approved in 2003 by the
International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage (TICCIH),
Industrial Heritage is defined as “those remnants of industrial culture that have historical,
technological, social, architectural or scientific value”. These remains can be understood
as “places where the transformation activities, the infrastructures that communicate them,
their buildings, their machinery as well as the places for the social life, customs and ways
of doing, were unfolded, according to the wide set that constitutes the industrial patrimony
“(2003, p.). The conceptualization proposed by Tagil’s Charter for patrimony includes
not only the vestiges of industrial culture but also the places where social activities took
place, related to events outside the factory, but linked to it.

Fonseca (2017, p. 51) states that “the heritage issue stands at a crossroads that
involves both the role of memory and tradition in the construction of collective identities,
as the resources that modern States have resorted to in objectifying and legitimizing
the nation” 6. In this sense, it is evident that industrial heritage refers to the history and
memory of the work of those who built a form of material reproduction in the past. For
the author (2017, p. 51), the values a​​ ttributed to heritage “are marks of time in space” that
in complex societies there is a concern to preserve. The preservation of that memory is
an element of the identity of the group it refers to and it is important to keep it. Industrial
heritage is testimony of a history that made sense at one time and confirms its role in
history.

The study of industrial heritage allows to identify the changes that society had in
the historical process in the application of new technologies that affect the way in which
knowledge is made and passed on. The preservation of cultural assets as heritage depends
on the action of the National State when it defines criteria to ensure its maintenance. Milet
clarifies that the

effectiveness of the preservation of cultural
assets is only socially defined, that is, it only appears as
a social fact, when the State assumes its protection and,
through the legal order, it officially institutes and delimits
them as a cultural asset, regulating their use, purpose and
character within specific land ownership, zoning, use and
occupation laws (MILET,1988, p.18 apud FONSECA,
2017, p. 55).

In the Brazilian context, since the creation of Sphan in 1936, as already mentioned,
the concern with preservation is late and it only started with the modernist movement and
the installation of the Estado Novo in the Getúlio Vargas’s government. The comparison
with other countries indicates that the history of heritage preservation in Brazil is recent
and constantly faces opposing positions due to the lack of political culture of those who
should and can preserve it. One way to preserve developed by Sphan was the listing. For the
listing to occur, it is necessary “the institution of protection as an object of public policy”

6 Fonseca (2017) in “The heritage in process” presents the trajectory of the federal policy for the preservation of the national
historical and artistic heritage and how public policy was implemented in Brazil.

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in order to ensure that the heritage is really preserved, giving meaning to it. “Currently7,
in addition to being a legal instrument with economic and social implications, listing
has been considered and used both by official agents and by social groups” (FONSECA,
2017, p. 192).

For industrial heritage, it is important to understand that property in the history of the
industry, the community in which it was inserted and what it wants to preserve as a value of
the past and understanding of the present time. The listing institution is a form of preservation
even if the results are not always effective as a policy for maintaining the heritage.

Case Study on the Formation of a Workers’ Village in
Southern Brazil

The first large woolen industry from the Italian colonial region in Rio Grande do
Sul refers to the history of Italian emigration into southern Brazil in the nineteenth century.
The history of this industrial establishment allows, through the study of its patrimony, to
understand how the first textile cooperative was organized in the Italian colony of Caxias
do Sul as to its means of work and mainly the technical knowledge that the workers had
when they arrived in Brazil.

The originality of this study is in the culture transported by the Italians in the
construction of a common history that takes place in the factory environment and
produces material and immaterial patrimony in Brazil. On the one hand, we have the
expulsion of workers from the first large woolen industry, in northern Italy, and on the
other hand, the imperial migration policy in Brazil that attracts labor for the occupation of
land and the realization of free labor. From these two objective conditions, the emigrants
make the decision to construct a weaving plant, in the form of a cooperative, located
in a mountainous place, similar to the place of departure, where these landscapes are
approximated around a common goal. The creation of a work space guaranteed the family
survival of this group of emigrants, who reproduced their culture of origin.

The study begins in Schio, located in the Province of Vicenza, Italy in the 18th century,
considered the manufacturing heart of the Venetian Republic. This location was known for
the number of weavers who worked in the production of fabrics, a tradition in that region.
Schio was a village with activities marked by protoindustrialization, a common phenomenon
before the Industrial Revolution and which in the 19th century became a center of textile
production because it housed the largest Italian textile complex, the Rossi woolen fabric. In
1869, the industrial structure occupied an area of 3​​ 0,000m² and had 9,500 spindles and 340
looms, employing a thousand dependents. With the mechanization and modernization of
the wool industry in Italy, some labor conflicts arose and, with them, the dismissal of many
workers from this important woolen industry. One of the strikes that took place in 1890-1891
made these workers decide to leave the country and seek new life alternatives offered by the

7 The listing processes are deposited in the Central Archive of the current National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan).

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Figure 1. Photograph of the Rossi Lanificio in Schio.
Source: Fontana collection, Schio, Italy.

Figure 2. “Nuovo Quartiere A. Rossi in Schio”. Starting point of Italian
workers who came to Galópolis.
Source: Fontana 1985, II vol, fig, 602.

emigration of the time. These workers who left Schio in 1891 chose southern Brazil as their
destination, a place very similar to the one they had left in their country of origin.

Emigration to Brazil was an alternative for social ascension and for being able
to support the family, access land and work freely. A few years after arriving in Brazil,
they decided to found a textile cooperative that would allow them to work together and
sustain the family. They built a shed to carry out their craft activities and in a short time,
they founded a small woolen factory, in the form of a cooperative with few looms. These
immigrants mastered the craft of spinning and weaving, and, when they decided to found
a cooperative, they take as a model what they already know from their former homeland.

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Industrial Heritage and Italian Immigration ... Vania B.M. HERÉDIA - Giovanni LUIGI FONTANA

Figure 3. The cooperative was located near Arroio Pinhal, a strategic place
for the production of wool.
Source: Historical Archive Municipal João Spadari Adami. Caxias do Sul, 2018.

After making this decision, one of these emigrants, returns to Italy to buy several looms
that will be his instruments of work.

The cooperative is inaugurated in January of 1898, formed by 28 partners8.
According to records, the place was ideal because of the proximity with a stream that
offered water to move the looms. They bought 13 machines and built an establishment
with 38 windows. The Textile Cooperative “Tevere e Novità” remained in the hands of the
emigrant workers until 1904, when it was sold to Ercole Gallo, an Italian man from Biella
who invests in wool weaving, turning it, in a few years, into one of the most well-known
in the State. Ercole Gallo was the son of a wool merchant from Valle Mosso and had the
experience from his father’s wool business. When he partially buys the cooperative from
the emigrants, he calls it the “Woven Wool Company”.

Two years before the First World War, Ercole Gallo merges with the company
Chaves & Almeida, one of his clients, and the company Chaves & Irmãos is created. In
this stage, the place starts to be called Galópolis, in homage to the great entrepreneur who
invested in the wool factory and built the working village.

Over time, a workers’ village was built that housed the masters and weavers and
this economic activity grew and supplied the market in the region and later the market in
the entire Province. The first houses of the workers’ village were built to house foreign
labor, hired by the factory, in order to move the mechanical looms purchased in Europe.
The creation of the workers’ village solved the question of the workforce, as it guaranteed
the fixation and immobilization of specialized workers.

With the expansion of this industry, it was sold to another group of executives, in

8 According to the Purchase and Sale Agreement (1898) of this Cooperative, the following members are listed: Giuseppe
Berne; Giovani Batista Tisotti; Giuseppe Bolfe; Henrique Cantergiani; Bortolo Cortese; Valdevino Mendes Torta;
Giovanni;Giovanni Rech; Giuseppe Formolo;Maria Cesa; Luiz Curtulo; Angelo Basso; Jacinto Vial; Giovanni Mincato;
Giuseppe Casa; Giovanni Stragliotto; Maria Dalmedico; Abramo Zardin; Francisco Formighieri and Giuseppe Comerlato.

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

Figure 4. Galópolis in 1920. Photograph by Sisto Muner. Municipal
Historical Archive João Spadari Adami.
Source: Caxias do Sul, 2018.

the fabric sector, who kept this heritage until 1979. This industry went through yet another
management of entrepreneurs until it returned to the workers’ control in a 1999 strike.

The question that arises in this study is what represents this industrial heritage,
which has been in existence for over a century and which has a common history of
immigrant workers who managed to maintain, even in different countries, the art of
weaving and spinning under different conditions. Many similarities are identified in the
history of Lanifício São Pedro and Lanifício Rossi, despite the temporal and geographic
distance. The story of this rapprochement begins long before of the Italian wool factory
owner, Senador Alessandro Rossi, took over the leadership of his family’s business and
turned it into one of Italy’s largest wool industries. It begins with the industrialization

Figure 5. Photograph of the Lanificio Rossi in Schio.
Source: Fontana Collection, Schio, Italy.

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Industrial Heritage and Italian Immigration ... Vania B.M. HERÉDIA - Giovanni LUIGI FONTANA

model adopted before and after Italian unification, which gives this comparison a
historical character, to explain the relationships that were established between these two
industrialization processes.

The study allows to make some considerations: the location of both industries is
favorable, marked by the difficulty of carrying out other economic activities and benefited
by the geographic character, with regard to energy provision. The transition from domestic
industry to manufacturing and the installation of the factory system were facilitated by the
presence of the cooperative spirit in the regions studied. However, some studies show that
the domestic industry was very strong and, in it, the figure of the artisan and the peasant
was closely linked.

The dynamics of ethnic identity, as an element of cultural integration, based on the
kinship network, occurs in the two industrial structures, that is, in Galópolis and in Schio.
In Galópolis, ethnic identity is used as an element of distinction and appreciation of the
culture of those who came from abroad. Inside the factory and the workers’ village, it was
difficult to find workers who were not of European descent.

The expansion of these two textile industries started with the construction
of workers’ community, marked by social practices typical of the first European
industrialization (FONTANA, 2020). It is identified, in the analyzed experiences, the
constitution of a system of benefits that confuses itself with the offer of services of a
community and that favors the process of permanence of the workforce in the localities.
The entrepreneurial spirit, guided by the mentors of these two large industries, made
the workers’ village model a strategy to retain labor. The population of these villages
recognized the benefits present in their collective life and attributed these gains to the
figure of mentors.

Figure 6. Galópolis. View of the Lanifício S. Pedro S. A.
Source: Historical Collection Municipal of Caxias do Sul. Caxias do Sul, 2018.

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Industrial Heritage in the Urban Identity and Memory Axis

Figure 7. View of São Pedro S.A. Lanificio after World War II. Historical
Archive Municipal João Spadari Adami.
Source: Caxias do Sul, 2018.

The study shows as its result the recognition of the cultural legacy that the industrial
patrimony allows society as a possibility of educational actions aimed at valuing heritage
as history, as well as forms of cultural appropriation that can stimulate tourism in this
area.

The study of the industrial patrimony allows for the socialization of cultural goods
related to productive life in the recent past and for the understanding of the evolution of
work processes, valuing what was done and how it happened. The understanding of this
process does not take place outside the socio-historical context and must take into account
the material and objective conditions that influenced its results.

The case with this cooperative shows how it was conceived and planned during its
creation more than a century ago, when the immigration policy in Brazil stimulated the
arrival of foreigners to build a nation. The study reflects the conditions of production that
the emigrants had, and the various economic transformations they have promoted to stay
in the market in the face of the economic changes in the country.

The working village where the cooperative is located has a history marked by
Italian immigration in Brazil at the end of the nineteenth century and its buildings are
proof of these marks that are kept alive by the presence of these factory buildings, by the
workers’ houses, by the village organization and by the way of thinking of its inhabitants.
The material patrimony tells, through its buildings, how they produced the first workers
and how they lived integrated in the working village. The immaterial heritage refers to
the knowledge of the worker who transformed the product through his experience and the
transmission of its culture.

The Italian workers from Schio created a culture of work, passed on to their
children and grandchildren as a possibility of social ascension, group life, cultural values​​
and mastery of technique. The result of this industrial process has in the working village
the maintenance of habits and customs that marked this ethnic group and guaranteed their
reproduction through the knowledge they carried, giving an ethnic identity to this process.

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Industrial Heritage and Italian Immigration ... Vania B.M. HERÉDIA - Giovanni LUIGI FONTANA

It is important to remember that, according to the Resolution No. 1 of August 3,
2006, Iphan “gives the concept of intangible cultural heritage something inherent to it,
that is, its dynamic and procedural character as a factor of identity of social groups and
individuals” (MELO, CARDOSO, 2015, p.1068). The case with the industrial heritage
of Galópolis reflects this dynamic character that was built throughout its history and that
kept the traces of its identity, being recognized as a place of Italians. This dynamic and
procedural character goes beyond the evidences of material patrimony and reinforces the
sense of the immaterial when it postulates the force of culture into the transformation,
marked by the knowledge that the emigrants brought and that constitutes its history.

The study deals with initiatives that took place in the Italian industry and in
southern Brazil where the working class had a decisive influence on the formation of
heritage at that time. In order to value industrial heritage, it is necessary to understand
the origin of that heritage, its representations and its consequences in the place where it
was installed.

The guiding thread of this study as means of valuing industrial heritage is being
able to identify the origin and the initiatives of the relation established between Italian
and Brazilian wools, through the dynamics that were established between them and that
gave rise to the material heritage built in Galópolis, in southern Brazil, in the Italian
colonization zone.

Industrial heritage studies can favor the analysis of what was traditional in the
industry and what had to be innovative in the transfer of technology between one woolen
mill and another, through the analysis of the use of technology, the way of manufacturing
and the collective meaning for that ethnic community in that process. Among the
qualitative ingredients of pioneering Italian manufacturing, the following are highlighted:

Figure 8. Photograph of the workers’village of Galopolis, Caxias do Sul..
Source: Collection Herédia, 2017.

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From a private perspective, interventions in the
field of technical instruction, social assistance structures
and the organization of urban spaces; from the public
perspective, the osmosis with the traditional ruling strata,
the participation in the community administrative life, the
relations with the political and governmental dimensions
(FONTANA, 1993, p. XIV).

These aspects are very similar in the workers’ village built in Galópolis and, in
order to be understood, it needs this relationship with the formation of foreign manpower
and the production process and technology that they brought from abroad.

It concludes by affirming the need for studies on industrial patrimony as means
of strengthening educational actions to promote their maintenance and to collaborate to
avoid the destruction of the culture that it represents. Even though there are many political
and economic disputes over these interests, the knowledge of this history can become a
powerful weapon to fight this struggle. According to Barreto (2003, p. 13), patrimony
protection policies “are not neutral, they mirror ideologies of those who make the laws”.
The study of this industrial patrimony, as one becomes aware of its representativeness, is
important to guarantee its tutelage in the historical context where the industrialization in
Rio Grande do Sul and its urbanization occurred. The materiality present in its architecture
is evidence of its historical particularities.

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Industrial Heritage and Italian Immigration ... Vania B.M. HERÉDIA - Giovanni LUIGI FONTANA

References INSTITUTO ANDALUZ DEL PATRIMONIO
HISTORICO.CONSEJERIA DE CULTURA Y
Acervo do Lanifício São Pedro S. A. Livro de Atas DEPORTE. Junta de Andaluzia. Qué es patrimonio
das Assembleias Gerais. In: Arquivo Histórico industrial. p.2. In: http://www.iaph.es/export/sites/
Municipal João Spadari Adami. Caxias do Sul, default/galerias/patrimonio-cultural/documentos/
2017. gestion-informacion/Que_es_patrimonio_industrial.
pdf
Arquivo Lanifício São Pedro, Anexo II, História do
lanifício. Galópolis, 1977. p. 2. KUHL, Beatriz Mugayar. Algumas questões relativas
ao patrimônio industrial e à sua preservação. In:
Carta de Nizhny Tagil sobre o patrimônio industrial, http://portal.iphan.gov.br/uploads/publicacao/
TICCIH, 2003. Disponível em: www.ticcih.org. algumas_questoes_relativas_ao_patrimonio.pdf.
Acesso em 13 de setembro de 2018. Acesso em:26/08/2018.

CARTA de Veneza, ICOMOS, 1964. Disponível KÜHL, Beatriz Mugayar. Preservação do Patrimônio
em: www.iphan.gov.br/cartas.htm. Acesso em 12 de Arquitetônico da Industrialização: Problemas
fevereiro de 2004. teóricos de restauro. São Paulo: Editora ATELIÊ,
2009.
CHOAY, Françoise. A alegoria do patrimônio. São
Paulo, Unesp, 2001. MELLO E SILVA, Leonardo. Patrimônio Industrial:
passado e presente. p.7. In: http://portal.iphan.
CHUVA, Márcia Regina Romeiro. Os arquitetos da gov.br/uploads/publicacao/patrimonio_industrial_
memória. Sociogênese das práticas de preservação passado_e_presente.pdf Acesso em 26/08/2018.
cultural no Brasil (1930-1940). Rio de Janeiro:
UFRJ, 2017, 2. Ed. POLLACK, Michael. Memória e Identidade Social.
In: Estudos Históricos. v.5, n.10, 1992.
FONSECA, Maria Cecília Londres. O patrimônio
em processo. Rio de Janeiro: UFRJ, 2017, 4. Ed.

FONTANA, G.L. – MARCHESINI, La città della
lana. Storia per immagini, in FONTANA, G.L.(Ed.).
Schio e Alessandro Rossi. Imprenditorialità, politica,
cultura e paesaggi sociali del secondo Ottocento.
Vol. II, Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1985.

FONTANA,G.L. Mercanti, pioneri e capitali
d’industria. Impreditori e imprese nel Vicentino tra’
700 e ‘900. Vicenza: Neri Pozza Editore, 1993.

FONTANA, G.L., Alessandro Rossi e l’era
industriale, in Rossi200. Dalla lana al tessuto
produttivo, Schio: Sparkling. 2020, pp. 115-132.

FONTANA, G.L. Workers’ villages and company
towns. The origins and development of a global
phenomenon, in FONTANA, G.L. GRITTI, A.,
Architeture at work. Towns and landscaapes of
Industrial Heritage. Firenze: Forma editore, 2020.

HERÉDIA, Vania B.M. O Processo de
Industrialização na zona colonial italiana. Caxias do
Sul: Educs, 1997.

238

TELLING THE PERCEIVED
INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE PHENOMENA
AND THEIR INTERPRETATIONS WITH
TOURISM EFFECT: SOME CASES
OF LAMPANG PROVINCE IN THE
NORTHERN REGION OF THAILAND

Siripen YIAMJANYA 1

Abstract

This article aims at presenting important industrial heritage of a small town,
Lampang Province in the Northern Region of Thailand, drawing an attention to the
tourism atmospheres induced by the use of the industrial heritage image, and pointing out
potential of using the industrial heritage for tourism. The town is significant as the national
mining source and the electricity power plant, home for industrial craft productions, as
well as representing the northern region’s logistic and trade centre in the past with the
national railway network being reached; and thus, the region’s railway hub. The physical
extensive fieldworks contributed to a typology of the town’s industrial heritage. Utilizing
in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to collect the data with key informants,
organizations and local communities, and personal observation during the three-years
course as a local resident, the results portrayed interesting phenomena or movements
associated with the industrial heritage being in-between conscious; these included the
tourism in the mining heritage context; the railway tourism as the industrial heritage
promotion; the cultural embodiments through arts at the old precincts where the industrial
nostalgia was felt; the bridge phenomenon; and the industrial craft heritage tourism. The
study demonstrates how and under what circumstance these phenomena have arrived
and developed. To some extent, the article marks a significance of these heritage assets
for future reuse themes for tourism in a more integrative orientation that are in harmony
with the local identity. A map illustrating the thematic industrial heritage resources and
a practical paradigm for future application in the context of the studied town were also
proposed. The suggested alternative approaches could be adaptively applied as to help
promote cultural values of the industrial heritage per se..

1   PhD, Tourism Management Program, College of Hospitality Industry Management Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Thailand.

e-posta: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0002-0827-9013

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Telling the Perceived Industrial Heritage Phenomena ... Siripen YIAMJANYA

Understanding the Industrial Heritage and its

Transition to Tourism Uses

The Nizhny Tagil Charter for the Industrial Heritage defines industrial heritage as
that consisting of the remains of industrial culture which possess historical, technological,
social, architectural or scientific values (The Nizhny Tagil Charter for the Industrial
Heritage, July .2003) Industrial heritage reflects the profound connection between the
cultural and natural environment that can be seen in industrial processes both in ancient
and modern times, and evidences of industrial processes can be seen in raw materials,
natural resources, energy, and transportation networks to produce and distribute products
to broader markets (ICOMOS News, July 2011). According to the report from the seminar
on the industrial heritage, “Industrial Heritage in Tourism Policies for Sustainable
Development (52nd Meeting of the Commission of Europe, arranged in Zabrze/ Katowice,
Poland, Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland, 2011), the issue of
sustainability was addressed by focusing on the significance of the industrial heritage as a
tool for sustainable tourism development. The seminar contributed to the assessment report
in which the classification of the industrial heritage, especially the contemporary one, and
in particular for tourism was noted based on the scope defined in the Memorandum of
Understanding on the establishment in Zabrze of the International Documentation and
Research Centre on Industrial Heritage for Tourism. Industrial heritage for tourism was
classified into three main groups including (1) industrial and technological monuments
for instance sites, moveable heritage and artifacts in museums, as well as fortifications;
(2) living industry of all types and agriculture and food production; and (3) intangible
heritage for instance cultural activities inspired by industrial development (Ozden, 2012).
Remains of the industrial heritage range from buildings and machinery, workshops, mills
and factories, mines and sites for processing and refining, warehouses and stores, places
where energy is generated, transmitted and used, transport and all its infrastructure, as
well as places used for social activities related to industry such as housing, religious
worship or education. The historical period scoped for studying about industrial heritage
is not limited to dates back to the past time but also include the present day. UNESCO
World Heritage Centre Asia-Pacific Region emphasized that industrial heritage existed
in all phases of human development, and therefore it was not only found in the 19th and
20th centuries, but also in prehistoric and medieval times, for example (Falser, 2001). The
value of industrial heritage encompasses social value represented through the lives of
ordinary men and women, technological and scientific value in terms of manufacturing
culture, aesthetic value that can be viewed from quality of architecture and design, and
economic value when a significant industrial site which is facing a decay and declining
state can be rehabilitated using cultural tourism for economic regeneration. Industrial
heritage study focuses on material remains of past industrial processes, practices and
social patterns through identification of the material culture of the industrialized society,
the culture of ordinary life of people living and working in that society, including the
hardship of people.

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Industrial heritage has become the ‘heritage’ with a merit of post-industrialization
or the period in which there is a transition of heavy manufacturing industry to soft or
service industry which generates more wealth. By this phenomenon, de-industrialization
has occurred. De-industrialization is used as a term to explain states or condition of
industrial sites that have been closed or abandoned due to cessation of industrial operations,
which, as a result, leads to the decay of industrial economy of a site or community. De-
industrialization therefore leads to economic change. Fortunately, the industries from the
old days, long time back, come alive again, significantly in the form of service and tourism
industry, which is considered a culture- attached industry. This is one way to conserving
these heritage sites and objects. The study about the conservation of disappearing sugar
industry cultural landscapes in Taiwan used the concept of cultural landscape for the
conservation of the sugar industry in Taiwan through the representation of its history,
components, composition, effect on the development process of cities and region, and the
threat facing the sugar factories, and the tourism development being introduced as one
choice of transformation of this industrial heritage (Wang, and Fu, 2011).

Industrial heritage tourism has been interpreted more widely; one point is that
it provides an impression of ‘urban tourism’ as a result of urban renewal (Ćopić, et al,
2014), with a new form of tourism being introduced. Urban tourism is described as
the tourism phenomenon in which visitors consume in an urban or city context within
a combination of contemporary and old physical settings. There are several forms of
demand and supply of tourist consumption activities. This includes, for instance, the way
tourists spend their leisure time at urban spaces and the commodification of products in
souvenir industry. Urban tourism introduces an idea that there is a linkage of globalization
and urbanization, which has transformed towns and cities to be places that serve tourism
and leisure activities. Especially, increasingly there are towns and cities from the pre-
industrial era reborn, based on the demand for the consumption of places in a post-
industrial society, with so much significance (Roche, 1992). In the case of Ruhr Area
in Germany, the industrial sites adjusted to be tourist attractions and recreational sites
were classified into the following groups: (1) indoor museum; (2) outdoor museum/ open
space from which visitors can see in far distance (such as the working blast furnace or
inactive in the production like ore storage, bunker or large metal pipes); (3) greenway; (4)
greenfield/ industrial landscape park (while maintaining the industrial components). With
the explanation of urban tourism, it is convinced that industrial heritage tourism can be
integrated with the existing urban tourism. This is because industries, large, medium and
small scales, reflect economic development of cities and the trend of post-modern tourism
in which tourists look for more experiential holiday from urban vibrancies and realities,
seeking interaction with artistic materials and being stimulated by symbolic imagination.

One of the hardest constraints in making an industrial heritage for tourism is about
aesthetic aspect. Tourism has an image of pleasure and pleasant atmosphere as a result of
pleasant landscape, which can contribute to the aesthetic in visitors’ minds. The industrial
heritage, by its original function, seems to present a kind of ‘brutal image’ and ‘unfriendly
look’through pollution, massive iron machine manufacturing (large size, scale and structure)
(Yanfang, and Yinling, 2012), and engineering and alike. Brutalism or Brutalist architecture

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Telling the Perceived Industrial Heritage Phenomena ... Siripen YIAMJANYA

is a type of architecture, coming from the modernist architectural movement of the early
20th century. Buildings constructed in this style present mass forms and represents specific
functional zones, distinctly articulated and grouped together into a unified whole (“Brutalist
architecture”, 2021). Modern buildings of this kind of architectural structure can be seen
today, for example manufacturing factories, halls and warehouses. The word ‘brutal’ itself
also has the meaning of ‘having no feeling’. By this, it may not be easy that general visitors
would be able to have emotional access to the sense of aesthetic of buildings and sites
that represent the industries, especially mining. However, individuals interpret aesthetic
differently. Described by Zukin (1989), structure of industrial heritage sites has both solidity
and gracefulness that suggest a time when form still identified place rather than function (in
GÜNAY, 2014). This idea represents the uniqueness of individual industrial heritage sites
based on their different context (contextual uniqueness). Thinking differently, to recreate an
industrial site into a tourist attraction, for example in the case of mine, brutalism-oriented
image could be re augmented for visual and sublime effect on visitors’ feeling of grandeur
of the industrialization. Old and unused machines or the replica ones designed to place and
decorate the site is significant in narrating how the production process occurred in the site
has been (or had been) running. Furthermore, the image of ‘industry’ always connects with
strange and mysterious look with more heavy and solid elements. Thus, human elements
are significant to be supplemented when developing industrial site as a tourist attraction
(Jia, 2010). Beijing 798 Art Zone is an example. This former industrial site in Beijing was
established to be an electronic industry based known as the ‘Beijing North China Radio
Equipment Factory’, where many components in China’s first atomic bomb and man-made
satellite were produced.One of the factors how the site has become the creative art zone was
that in 1995 the Central Academy of Fine Arts moved nearby from its previous location and
the Department of Sculptures received a task to create the statues to commemorate the Marco
Polo Bridge Incident from the Anti-Japanese War, and the 798 zone was chosen for this large
statue due to its larger space. Later there was a setup of fine art studio in a kiln workshop of
a 798 factory by Sui Jianguo, followed by the well-known publisher, Hong Huang moving
her periodical office and home into one of the 798 factories (Dai, Huang and Zhu, 2015).
From these events, there was a start of artistic grow for the transformation of 798 since
then, plus the fact that its location is adjacent to the major roads of the airport expressway
and not far from the business districts and the Capital International Airport, making it as
the accessible urban attraction. With its remnants of Bauhaus architectural style buildings
viewedas the aesthetic element, the site has been transformed into a thriving art zone with
galleries, design and artist studios, art exhibition spaces, fashion shops and a street of cafes
and restaurants. Each September the area hosts the Beijing 798 Art Festival, it has become
a leading exhibition centre of Chinese art and culture and significant focus for cultural
and creative industries (Quan, 2021). It can be said that artistic element is very important
component to add to industrial sites in order to create a soft side in which human can be more
naturally connected to machinery. Due to these constraints, many industrial sites, both the
inactive and abandoned, and the working ones, put much effort on improving the landscape
with vegetation and green parks (as in the case of the transformation of industrial heritage:
an example of tourism industry development in the Ruhr Area in Germany) to contribute to
the aesthetic or artistic interpretation of the sites as well as to rehabilitate the areas that have

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had serious environmental problems (by integrating the existing architecture of industrial
machines and buildings with natural landscape in which their extensive landscape is already
there). Yet a limitation is about the fact that visitors may be restricted in accessing the
real sites and objects but receive only visual experience of the sites from distance. This is
where interpretation and presentation of interpretative materials are important as a way of
informing visitors and encourage them to engage with the site and its historical, physical
and social significance. Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun is another
example; it is a former copper mine in Sweden which had operated the copper mining and
metals production since at least 13th century before its cease in the operation in late 20th
century. The area is dominated by impressive large mining landscape with the industrial
remains and fine historic miners’ houses and buildings painted in red, the color called “the
Falun red”, which is the color made from mineral remains of copper extraction (UNESCO,
n.d.). It is an impressive example of how the former mine and its landscape were interpreted
and presented to visitors to feel, understand and appreciate the history and miners’ work
and living at the time with physical experience offered to visitors. In the case of Kojo Moe
(Factory Infatuation), Japanese tourists appreciated its industrial facilities not because
of their past but more because of their aesthetic value; according to Japanese industrial
tourists, the plants and factories are beautiful (Boros, Martin and Pal, 2013). In order to
create this point of view, the author believes that improvement of built landscape is very
important in shaping or influencing visitors’ view and interest. For the Kojo Moe case, the
place is augmented with light and artistic landscape to create visually fascinating quality
when looked from the far side at night. With the idea to create fascination with factories and
imagination that sites of industrial facilities are ‘simulacra of futuristic urban technoscape’,
the industrial factories become the subject of appreciation among visitors (Amano, 2016). It
was like we were back to the time of Bauhaus development where functionality and beauty
were unified. For Kojo Moe case, what it brought about is fundamental changes in people’s
cognition about the physical presence of factories in social space.

Chilingaryan envisioned in the study of “Industrial Heritage: In-Between Memory and
Transformation” the theory of the contemporary society through the case studies of former
industrial complexes in Italy in order to understand the new meanings of industrial heritage
(Chilingaryan, 2014). This research referred to the influence of post-industrialism and post-
industrial society on the emergence later of some theories of contemporary society, for example
the theory of information/ knowledge society, the theory of post-Fordism and the theory of post-
modernism. In the study, a set of ideas based on these theories was constructed in trying to
explain a new representation of the industrial heritage that influences on the consumption culture
of post-modern people as both producers (i.e., artists and entrepreneurs) and consumers. These
ideas are “the unfinishedness”, “the roughness”, “the rawness” and “the references to the past”
of the tangible industrial structure or the built elements of the cotton mill case of Leipziger
Baumwollspinnerei in Germany (as it is almost left intact as it was). It reflects freedom and
flexibility, and aesthetics, and contributes to on-going creativity to be played around in space;
imagination and interpretation of producers and consumers to be individualized and emotional
reactions to be stimulated by this materiality. Importantly, the summary points out that by this
environment, certain active and on-going relationships and a constant dialogue between the

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industrial past and the contemporary profile of the site (Spinnerei) exist. The framework was
built to draw attention to the factors around the industrial heritage in the context where it is
being re-used as a product in the contemporary world (post-industrial society) revolving around
knowledge and memory, needs and expectations and perception of people (that are dynamic)
both on the production and consumption sides.Also, the sustainability context cannot be ignored.
These factors influence heterogeneity of cultural interpretation and production based on the
values of the industrial heritage and the fact that the industrial heritage is a “locus of imaginaries”.
Following this, the industrial heritage in this study is seen more as a contemporary concept
in essence rather than a built construct, thus allowing a more flexible product development.
The proposed theoretical viewpoint emphasizes the fact that culture is the revolving entity that
is never intact and static; when the industrial heritage is used as the raw material for cultural
production, the viewpoint towards its existence in the post-modern world is therefore contrary
to the original viewpoint that sees it as the intact built heritage: it needs dynamic treatments, for
example diversity and creativity of cultural market.

About Lampang Province

Each period of town development of Lampang has created town precincts where social
and trading activities have been mobilized. The first generation of the town development
was during Hariphunchai period (13th Buddhist Century), as the inner precinct. The second
generation of the town development was during Lanna period (Sukhothai-Thonburi period:
1302-1782 A.D.). After that Lampang went through the development as the secondary
trading town after Chiang Mai, in which the trading had more connection with Bangkok
(Rattanakosin period: 1782 – 1874 A.D.). The important historic precinct was Kad Kong Ta or
the Chinese Market). Later, the new local administrative system called Monthon Thesaphiban
(Circle Administrative System) was adopted during King Rama V (1874 – 1976 A.D.), in
which teakwood trade via the Wang River transport mode with Burmese and Chinese traders
started. After development of the northern railway network (1916-1957 A.D.), in which first
train arrived to Lampang in 1916 A.D., a new trading centre area was developed near the
train station. The town had remained the trade centre until the1st and 2nd National Economic
and Social Development Plans (1961-1971 A.D.) were applied, aiming to develop the core
regional towns of the country. The Chiang Mai-Lampang Highway Road finished in 1968
A.D. decreased the importance of Lampang as the trade centre. The policy of the 4th and 5th
National Economic and Social Development Plans (1977-1986 A.D.) put more emphasis on
the decentralization to the regional areas, and the creation of primary and secondary towns,
reducing the role of Lampang as the main town of the northern region. Reading the history
of Lampang’s town development, it can be noted that the town has always been associated
with industrial productions, for instance teak trade, sugar production, tobacco production and
mining production. Lampang has been represented by the natural assets that are used in these
industrial productions such as Lignite, Kaolin clay and wood. The precincts near the Wang
River and the railway station area, for example, were developed as the areas for stocking and
transiting goods before distributing to the market areas southwards of the country, emphasizing
its role as the trade transition zone. Therefore, there are the remains of the evidences scattered
around the town, in which the town has been characterized.

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The Selected Case Studies

Mining heritage context

Values

History of Mae Moh Mine (Figure 1) is associated with the Siam’ s royal command
for the use of the mine land for national development during the time the country was in
high demand of national social and economic development. As Mae Moh Mine with its large
landscape occupying many older villages settled before its establishment long time ago, and
natural settings, the mine’s significance is therefore a contradiction and it is significantly a driver
to changes of actions in environmental and social dimensions. In the transition where Thailand
has been exploring alternative sources of energy for the whole country’s electricity and water
supply consumption, Mae Moh Mine has thereafter been in both a “black and white remark”;
the source of environmental unfriendliness and the source of needed energy. Through time,
Mae Moh Mine has been finding solutions to the environmental problems which inevitably
occur from the electricity production and has been helping the communities around the mine
through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and offering various jobs for the
locals to work in the mine, and the quality of living of local people are very much better.
In terms of the industrial value, Mae Moh Mine is represented by its industrial characters.
For the aspect of machinery, according to the data acquired from the author’s survey, most
old machines had been used for more than 20 years and were produced in Germany, United
States of America, Japan and Australia. They are still in good condition despite their lengths
of age and use time. This marks the quality of materials used in industrial production in the
past, with an emphasis on the long age of the mining operation of Thailand. The structural
integrity of the industrial value can be divided into visual integrity and functional integrity.
In terms of visual integrity, the vast area of the mine puts on views the spectacle of the vast
landscape of the mining site that connects with forests, streams and reservoir. The view of mine
landscape is enhanced with the tall, protruding 10 power plants, decorating the landscape. For
functional integrity, the integration of this mine landscape can be perceived from the physical
continuity of both the geological characters, mountains and the mine itself. The landscape
shows the rurality of the site that incorporates a mix of agriculture and industry. Economically,
the site reflects how the geological resources developed during a long course of time have
influenced from local character and cultural context: the way people earn their living and
the provincial industries, to the national scale represented by the extensive use of coal for
producing electricity for people nationwide. Within the site, it shows the functional integrity
especially when we emphasize the fact that it still operates as the national electric power
plant. The site has been used heavily for producing the electricity supply to the nation. Being
the non-renewable resource, the site is prone to a shortage of lignite within approximately 50
years. The geological value of this mining landscape can be viewed as the evolved landscape,
as a result of economic activity, and has direct association with natural environment. In this
case, it is about the geology of the coal land. Evolved landscape is divided into 2 types: relic
(or fossil) landscape and continuing landscape (Douet, 2013, p. 49-50). Mae Moh mining

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Telling the Perceived Industrial Heritage Phenomena ... Siripen YIAMJANYA

landscape also represents both types. It has the significance in terms of the source of natural
coal by the formation of fossiliferous beds and the coalification process. It has been resting
under the earth for long course of time until humans have discovered it. Mae Moh represents
the most extensive landscape of coal deposits with the Paleogene-Neogene sediments being
preserved. The Mae Moh Basin contains the largest coal deposit in Thailand extended to the
16.5 kilometers in length and 9 kilometers in weight. The mine area also is the land which
formed the thickest bed in the world of ancestral fresh water molluscan fossil (Department of
Mineral Sources, n.d.). The south of Mae Moh Basin is dominated by rolling hill terrain and
some short mountains of Pleistocene basaltic flows with some distinctive forms of ancient
volcanic craters; the two examples are Doi Pha Khok Champa Daed and Doi Pha Khok Hin
Fu, resting from one another between 2 kilometers.

Furthermore, the aesthetic value of the mine is through human gazes, defined as
a picturesque continuing landscape; the mine visualizes the panoramic scenes that are so
continuing. The ideology explaining strong, undeniable and reciprocal relationships between
humanity and nature emphasizes, as Thomas, G., Sim, J. and Poulton, D. (2001) quoted in
Satherley, S.D. (2005) stated, that the boundaries between natural and cultural landscape
are so blurred. These boundaries are so blurred that separation of these two landscapes
is nigh impossible and that of the so-called ‘natural’ landscape that remain, many have
become dependent on humans for their survival. Reading the phrase ‘for their survival’,
this conveys to us a significant message that ‘it is the survival of both the given natural
landscapes and humans’. ‘Heritage’ is human- constructed and associated with human
memories and narratives. Thereafter we could feel right to say that the cultural landscape
heritage exists to serve human ways to feeling and narrating ‘aesthetics’ of the past, as well
as when individual at a moment, is gazing at and is being deep in the landscape.

Mining heritage tourism and leisure

According to the interview with the key informants working in the related divisions
of Mae Moh Mine, recreation is one of the reclamation strategies of the mine. Turning
an inactive mine site into a recreational park, or a public park is one of the compulsory
activities (apart from other choices such as tree plantation) stated in the central plan of
mining work in the category of reclamation and rehabilitation. The main points include
approaches for how the mine, the power generation structure, workshops and offices, and
ash dump sites may possibly be adaptively reused for tourism and recreational purposes.
A strategy is on utilizing huge structures as landmarks in vast area and for creating spaces
for events and leisure activities. With high budget needed for demolishment, their idea
is therefore a design of landscape to be harmonized with the structures instead rather
than removing or demolishing the sites. Interestingly, today an outdoor museum (park)
was designed where a collection of unused machines and vehicles used in mining and
transportation is showcased (some examples are shown in Table 1).

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Table 1: Name of former machines, transports and other equipment used in Mae Moh Mining by category

Category Name of Machine Country Start-End Year
Excavator (1) Locomotive Australia 1961-1987
(2) Rail Cargo Australia/ under Columbo Plan 1961-1977
Transportation (3) Mobile Crusher Australia/ under Columbo Plan 1963-1980
Auxiliary 1974-1986
Equipment (4) Off Highway UK
Dump Truck

(5) Bottom Dump USA 1958-1986
Truck
(6) Dragline N/A no start year record -1984
(7) Plast Hole Drill USA 1958-1986
(8) Wire Rope Shovel USA 1956-1988
(9) Rotary Drill USA 1981-1995
(10) Percussion Drill Australia/ under Columbo Plan 1958-1986
(11) Auger Drill USA 1954-1984
(12) Wire Rope Shovel Japan 1963-1986
(13) Wire Rope Shovel UK 1976-1985
(14) Dragline USA 1959-1991
USA
(15) Draglines 1959-no dismiss year
USA record
(1) Belt Loader UK
(2) Off Highway 1958-1980
Dump Truck N/A 1974-1986
(3) Bottom Dump
Truck Germany 1958-1986

(4) Feeder Hopper N/A 1976-no dismiss year
Australia/ under Columbo Plan record
(5) Truck Ramp N/A
(6) Rail Cargo Australia
(7) Locomotive Japan 1961-1977
(8) Locomotive N/A 1961-1987
(9) Mine Cart USA 1976-1987
(10) Crawler Tractor USA 1958-1977
(11) Road Roller 1958-1984
(12) Crawler Tractor/ USA/ under United States Operations 1954-1988
Caterpillar Tractor Mission to Thailand (USOM) project 1958-1988
USA/ under United States Operations
(13) Water Pump Mission to Thailand (USOM) project 1979-1989

(14) Portable Fire N/A N/A
Extinguisher
(15) Scraper USA 1956-1986

Source: Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), Mae Moh

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Telling the Perceived Industrial Heritage Phenomena ... Siripen YIAMJANYA

Moreover, Mae Moh Museum (Figure 3) is used as an interpretation technique
and a dissemination channel of the mining heritage value. The museum narrates the
geology of the coal mine, mining work and electricity production from coal. Another
emphasis is on landscape design for bike trails to attract sport visitors. Also currently, there
are people assembling with special interest in biking (Bike Club for Health), who usually
bike to explore new routes from the starting points in the mine to other places outside. As
observed, the bike routes mainly offer countryside and reservoir views. Moreover, there
is an annual Mae Moh Festival, in which biking is a tradition. The designed bike trails are
mostly passing different flower parks within the mine and these are safe from transport
activity in the area, and some trails are on the high ground from which bikers can view
the sceneries of the power plant, the mine and the reservoirs. From these, it can be noted
that the practices regard both the industrial and ecological aspects of the mining heritage
when applied in tourism use, which contributes to sustaining the mining landscape, as
in the case of the Swedish former mine, the Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain
in Falun with its vision to create a harmony between mining and minerals industry with
environment, culture and other industries, as well as promoting attractive natural and
cultural environment to mining communities nearby (Swedish Ministry of Enterprise,
Energy and Communications, n.d.).

It can be noted that the annual festival Mae Moh Festival is generally a successful
event that attract many visitors to the district. This has already been a magnet of the
tourism in the area. In a holistic view on tourism based on the phenomena, connection
between industrial culture and arts can be enhanced; this means that the industrial culture
can be messaged through arts and entertainment. There should be integration between
the cultural content of events happening in downtown precincts and of outer zones, such
as use of arts content to creates the artistic landscape of the mining site. In addition, in
order to leverage appreciation of visitors in mining production with more human-nature
interaction, modern interpretation should be considered such as using some virtual reality
techniques. Moreover, to create positive image and to raise positive attitude towards
mining industry may require open-house to public (visitors or particular influencers
groups) and to inhabitants around the area (under safety and security control).

To note, the concept of landscaping recreational park with display of immovable
sites, structures and objects like unused mining machines and transports, leaving their
condition as they are, is an alternative way to manage this heritage due to high cost to be
spent in demolishing or even removing them to other places. The case of Duisburg North
Landscape Park in Germany also uses this approach regarding less on the preservation of
industrial objects but rather shows the beauty of the landscape and the ruins (Wenzhuo,
2017). The author found this interesting. The Japanese term ‘Wabi Sabi’ is the traditional
Japanese aesthetic concept centred on the acceptance of impermanence and imperfection.
The word ‘Wabi’ implies the absence of apparent beauty that could be considered as
something of even higher beauty, the idea that connects with ‘Zen’. It is about seeing of
beauty in the imperfections and natural decay. The word ‘Sabi’ connects with loneliness,
resignation and tranquillity, introducing ‘ancient-looking’ things to a positive view.
Finally, Wabi Sabi is the philosophy portraying the possibility of generating an aesthetic

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