Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to assault Ukraine with armed forces is a flagrant violation of international law, causing death and despair to millions of people. This strongly contradicts the common European values that are the bedrock and essence of the ERIH network, being a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. We strongly condemn the destructive and hostile war and join the overwhelming majority of the global community in calling for immediate peace negotiations.

ERIH successfully applied for a three-year Creative Europe Networks grant to promote its networking. From January 2022 to December 2024, the EU has granted 80 percent funding for network projects, with ERIH contributing the remaining 20 percent. ERIH's focus is on the implications of the "European Green Deal" for industrial heritage as well as the sector's sustainability in the wake of the pandemic and its effects. The new project period is divided into six work packages designed to pursue and further develop established formats and to implement new ventures.

In a first kick-off meeting in February, a project management group (PMG) was constituted to take over the general controlling. This PMG once again relies on active member participation, with appropriate appeals being prepared. Invitations for ERIH members to get involved will also be issued for projects such as WORK-it-OUT, ERIH on TOUR (successor to Twinning of Sites), Linking Europe and others. Lobbying industrial heritage on EU level remains important, too. As a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, ERIH will share its experience as well as maintain and expand its contacts in various expert groups, in the European Heritage Alliance 3.3 network and in other relevant programmes.

Education and professional training, as well as knowledge transfer, will continue to be top priorities. The European Academy of Industrial Heritage is going to propose lectures at further universities (germany@erih.net gladly accepts suggestions and applications via email). All of these activities will particularly target the younger generations. In addition, the key instrument of the ERIH Industrial Heritage Barometer will remain an integral part of our work. In just a few weeks' time, the Ruhr Regional Association will again be calling for participation in this year's online survey, its results being all the more meaningful the more sites take part. An upgrade is scheduled for both internal and external communication. This applies in particular to our social media efforts, which will be extended to include additional channels and content. To this end, we will be refining our communication strategy on an ongoing basis.

How do the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe deliver their content, information and services on their respective websites? That question was at the centre of a scientific study conducted by four researchers from UNESCO as well as two universities in Switzerland and Finland, which was presented in December at the 1st academic workshop held by the University Network for Cultural Routes Studies. To provide a basis for comparison, the authors identified 47 indicators for a total of 34 websites and assigned them to six categories, including "information about the route", "news, events, projects" and "tourism".

Since December last year, two new Anchor Points were added to the ERIH network: the Grand Hornu World Heritage Site in Belgium and the Fortuna visitor mine in Germany. Grand Hornu, a large-scale neoclassical complex from the early 19th century, including a workers' settlement with over 400 cottages, used to be one of the largest collieries in Belgium and has become a jewel of European industrial heritage with high-profile cultural facilities. In the Fortuna mine, visitors explore what it was like to work in a 20th century ore mine 150 metres below ground, with original and operable machinery, and further trace the ore's processing and miners' everyday lives in the well-preserved historic surface facilities. We are pleased to see the network grow and warmly welcome both sites.
Grand Hornu World Heritage Site 
Fortuna Visitor Mine

Growth can also be seen regarding the ERIH Regional Routes: "TECHNOTRASA - surová krása" (Technical Route - Rough Beauty) currently aggregates eight sites in the Czech Republic's Moravian-Silesian Region, including the two ERIH Anchor Points Dolni Vitkovice and Michal Mine. The still important coal and steel region boasts a history rich in tradition, dating back to the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th century. The Regional Route - the first in the Czech Republic - is still under construction on our website and will be extended to include more sites.
Moravian-Silesian Technical Trail | TECHNOTRASA

The ERIH brochure "European Industrial Heritage. The International Story", provides ERIH sites with an inspiration as to how they can illustrate and explain the European context of industrialisation. Like the ERIH Theme Routes, it outlines the history of individual industries as an exciting European narrative, yet not comprehensively, but rather as an incentive for a more in-depth approach to the topic. Last year's edition is now available in reprint and can be requested from the ERIH head office.
Brochure "European Industrial Heritage. The International Story"