Welcome to the ERIH June newsletter. We report on a significant expansion of the network in Finland and welcome our new members both there and in Austria. We focus on the future by launching two innovative initiatives - the emerging member category "Young Professionals" and a working group to discuss concepts of sustainability. Furthermore, we celebrate Europa Nostra Awards for Industrial Sites and Heritage Champions and encourage all interested parties to register for the WORK it OUT dance event or submit their ideas for presentations at the ERIH Annual Conference.

The topics at a glance:

• ERIH Intern: 25 years for ERIH and the Ruhr Industrial Heritage Route
• ERIH WORK it OUT #7: Registration still open until 30 June
• ERIH Network: New Finnish Route of Industrial Heritage with 19 ERIH sites
• ERIH members: Two new Anchor Points in Austria and Finland
• ERIH Membership: New member category "Young Professionals"
• ERIH Workshop: Online exchange on concepts of sustainability
• ERIH Laureates: Industrial heritage sites win Europa Nostra Awards
• ERIH Call for Papers: Proposals for conference papers until 20 June
• ERIH Calendar: Save the date

In 2024, both ERIH and the Industrial Heritage Route in the Ruhr region are celebrating their 25th anniversaries. The celebrations kicked off with a long weekend of industrial heritage from 29 May to 2 June. On 29 May, a ERIH Germany Meeting was followed by a joint network meeting to cut the birthday cake. On 30 May, the ERIH Board convened, while on 31 May, the regional networks Berlin Centre for Industrial Culture and Ruhr Regional Association organised a workshop on the topic of "Volunteer Management". The party weekend concluded with the ExtraSchicht (Night of Industrial Culture). Other items on the agenda in ERIH's anniversary year include the annual conference from 23 to 25 October 2024 in Lodz and a symposium in collaboration with the Ruhr Regional Association on 7 November 2024 in the recently opened salt depot at the Hansa coking plant in Dortmund. 

Two and a half months from now, we will be organising the 7th edition of our award-winning dance event WORK it OUT featuring industrial heritage sites across Europe. For ERIH members  or potential ones - this is a great opportunity to address new and, most importantly, young target groups and promote themselves as part of a pan-European community. The dance will be held on 8 September 2024. Registration is open until 30 June. Submit now and join in.
ERIH dance event WORK it OUT

Finland boasts a new visitor attraction since 17 May: the Teollisuusperintöreitin or Finnish Route of Industrial Heritage. In realising the route, which was financed in part by the National Board of Antiquities and Monuments, the Finnish Society for Industrial Heritage collaborated closely with ERIH. 16 of the 19 sites on the route are new ERIH members. Five of them - the Leineperi, Kauttua and Ahlström ironworks, the Friitala Leather Museum and the Rosenlew Museum - have joined forces to form the ERIH Regional Route "West Coast". Since the ERIH Board recognised the Rosenlew Museum as an Anchor Point, it serves as important promotion centre for the West Coast Route.
Regional Route West Coast

It is the last surviving ensemble dating back to the early days of Austrian railways: Mürzzuschlag station, serving as the gateway to the Semmeringbahn high mountain route as of the mid-19th century. The line was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998 as one of the major engineering achievements in the pioneering phase of railway construction. Here, in the very east of the country, massive steam locomotives were based, capable of pulling heavy trains across the Alps. Some of these engines are still on display today - at the Südbahn Museum, which opened in 2004. Located in two listed railway sheds and the historic roundhouse, the ERIH Anchor Point tells the story of the strategically crucial Südbahn, which linked the former imperial capital of Vienna with the then most important port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Trieste. Visitors can look forward to a real-life "tunnel experience", meet famous railway travellers on the "train of destinies" and explore a mysterious "locomotive of the senses".
Mürzzuschlag. Südbahn Musem

The Rosenlew trademark - a curved "R" under a crown - labelled one of Finland's largest companies for more than 130 years. The R logo appeared on threshing machines, frying pans and baker's yeast. Rosenlew even produced ships, and its factory in Pori in south-west Finland quickly became the region's most important employer. In the 1960s, the company owners commissioned an employee with the task of preparing a selection of products for a proposed Rosenlew Museum. This has been residing, since 1984, in a former granary now extensively renovated. Among the roughly 6,000 objects on display at the ERIH Anchor Point, bringing the rich history of Rosenlew to life, visitors - at least the more senior among them - might encounter familiar sights as they explore the large variety of kitchen appliances that are still available on the market, albeit under different labels, since the company was dissolved in 1987.
Pori. Rosenlew Museum

Welcome to the ERIH network!

The ERIH Young Professionals (YP) are the official working group of volunteers, trainees, students, interns, PhD students and young professionals in their first four years of employment. With this new membership category, we offer a platform for young ERIH members to share interests and challenges. In addition, we want to encourage them to participate in ERIH activities and express their (young) perspectives in order to promote inter-generational communication and understanding, thus contributing to a more socially sustainable ERIH network. A further important goal is to establish mentoring relationships within the existing network to encourage participants to offer advice and seek support for a dynamic exchange of ideas and experiences.

This year, 206 sites and organisations from 38 countries applied for one of the renowned European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards, presented in five categories. Ultimately, 26 applicants prevailed, including the ERIH member sites Ignacy Historic Mine in Rybnik, Poland and Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings in the UK. An award in the "Heritage Champions" category went to Piotr Gerber and his Foundation for the Protection of Silesian Industrial Heritage, which was established in 2007 and operates, among other sites, the ERIH member sites Silesian Railway Museum in Jaworzyna Śląska and the Walcownia Zinc Rolling Mill in Katowice.
Congratulations to all the winners!
European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2024

Those interested have until 24 June to submit papers for the ERIH Annual Conference on 24 October in Łódź, Poland, on the subject of "Environmental sustainability – How to Come from Buzzword to Action". Topics to be addressed include the challenges faced by sites of industrial heritage, the contribution they can offer to a sustainable, ecological development and the identification of feasible, possibly transferable local or regional solutions that may already exist.

We are looking forward to receiving contributions from a variety of sectors, such as industrial heritage and infrastructure management or regional development and tourism, as well as the perspectives of planners and architects or construction and environmental companies. Applicants are requested to send a resumé of their paper in English (max. 2,000 characters) to the ERIH Secretariat at conference@erih.net. This call may also be forwarded to relevant networks and other interested parties.
ERIH Conference 2024 - Call for papers