Industrial Monuments in Germany: Data Basis and Overview of Regional Structures

1 Motivation and Background of the Project

Industrial monuments are important testimonies to the economic history and cultural heritage of a region (Bole 2021; Harfst, Wust, and Nadler 2018; Paasi 1986; Storm 2011). They represent a regional culture of remembrance (collective memory) and can, therefore, make a significant contribution to explaining the development of a region.^[1] According to the definition of the International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage (TICCIH), industrial monuments are remnants of economic activity that are of historical, technological, social, architectural, or scientific value.^[2] This includes in particular buildings, plants, and machinery, as well as sites for the processing, storage, and transportation of raw materials and products, including the corresponding infrastructure (e.g., bridges).^[3] As a rule, the term is restricted to industrial monuments in the sense of manufacturing industry, i.e., remains of agricultural production are excluded.

In Germany, the monument authorities of the respective federal states are responsible for documenting and, if necessary, maintaining the existing industrial monuments. In some federal states, the monument system is organized quite differentially. There are also significant differences between the federal states and their monument authorities with regard to the definition and categories of industrial monuments. As a result of these different responsibilities and procedures, the lists of monuments are often structured quite differently and are only to a limited extent compatible with each other. This results in a lack of cross-regional information on the industrial monuments existing in the regions of Germany, which has so far made it almost impossible to use such information for regional research.

Against this background, the idea was born to create the first ever directory of industrial monuments in German regions, which makes it possible to analyze connections between regional history, collective memory, and a variety of economic and social indicators. This directory, which we present here, was compiled in the years 2021–2024 as a by-product of our research work at the Faculty of Economics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.^[4] One of the main objectives of collecting and processing the data was to develop a standardized definition of industrial monuments to make the sometimes very different definitions used by the monument authorities as comparable as possible.

The data represent a measure of the extent of industrial tradition in regions compared to other regions and, therefore, allow to analyze long-term legacies and effects of historical industrial structures (Bleakley and Lin 2012; Stuetzer et al. 2016). For example, the data can contribute to understanding the mechanisms behind the formation of a place-based collective memory of industrial heritage. Previous research using less granular data has shown that collective memory about past economic structures – as carried by industrial monuments and other remnants of past economic setups – can have a significant effect on current levels of regional entrepreneurship (Fritsch et al. 2019) and voting behavior (Greve, Fritsch, and Wyrwich 2023). More generally, the data enable future contributions to the growing literature on collective memory on current economic behavior and outcomes (Fouka and Voth 2023; Ochsner and Roesel 2024). With these possibilities, the data also contribute to the large literature focusing on how historical developments and patterns (e.g., industrial tradition) shape future economic developments (e.g., Dell 2010; Nunn 2009).

Cultural studies could complement this ongoing research on collective memory by using the data to focus on the cultural and symbolic significance of industrial monuments to the local community and their role in shaping local identity. In addition, a regional database of industrial monuments can also serve as a rich resource for a variety of other research endeavors when combined with other regional data. This includes studies that trace the development of industrial technologies and innovations through the study of industrial monuments. The database can also support research on tourism and economic development by assessing the economic impact of the preservation and promotion of industrial heritage on the local economy, which is another important area of study. This report first describes the methodology of data compilation (Section 2). Following this, the procedure for harmonizing the data and identifying industrial monuments is presented (Section 3). Section 4 provides an overview of the spatial structure of industrial monuments in Germany. Finally, we draw a brief conclusion and provide an outlook for future work (Section 5).^[5]

2 Data Sources

In order to record the existing information on monuments and their availability, the websites of the monument authorities of all federal states were examined. While some monument authorities directly provide a file on the Internet with information on the monuments in their area of responsibility without access restrictions, most monument authorities only make the information available by retrieving data for each individual monument. As such a retrieval per monument was not feasible for us due to the very high workload involved, we asked the monument authorities concerned to send us electronic directories in list form.

Finally, for Lower Saxony, the required data were obtained by web scraping from the website of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. In this way, it was finally possible to compile raw data on the existing monuments for all 16 federal states.

The differences between the federal states in the recording of monuments are clearly reflected in the structure of the data provided in each case. These data also differ in terms of their content of information, which has an impact on their preparation and harmonization, especially on the identification of industrial monuments. Although in most federal states, the data were available in the form of electronic tables; in some federal states, only text documents (lists) were made available. Table 1 shows the format in which the raw data were available and the classification of the monuments into different categories by the respective monument authority.

3 Preparation of the Data

4 Spatial Structure of the Industrial Monuments

Table 5 shows the absolute number of industrial monuments identified by us for each federal state and their percentage share of the total number for Germany. This information is also included separately for the areas of production, supply, and transport, as well as for bridges and aqueducts, which we do not include in the industrial monuments in the narrower sense, but represent an independent category.

We were able to identify a total of 28,683 industrial monuments, most of which are located in Baden-Wuerttemberg (19.86 %) and Bavaria (20.21 %), followed by Saxony (10.38 %) and North Rhine-Westphalia (9.38 %). The largest number of industrial monuments (just under 11,500) are in the supply area; just over 10,000 industrial monuments are in the production area, and around 6,700 industrial monuments are in the traffic area. A total of around 7,000 monuments are bridges and aqueducts.

Bavaria (21.93 % of all industrial monuments in this category nationwide) and Saxony (17.3 %) dominate the industrial monuments in production. Baden-Wuerttemberg accounts for the third largest share of industrial monuments in this area (14.83 %). A similar picture emerges for the distribution of industrial monuments in the supply area. Here again, Baden-Wuerttemberg (29.53 %) and Bavaria (16.89 %) have the highest shares; the third-highest share is in Hesse (9.05 %). Bavaria accounts for almost a quarter (23.21 %) of all industrial monuments in the traffic area, followed by Baden-Wuerttemberg (11.16 %) and Hesse (10.32 %). The largest number of monuments in the area of bridges and aqueducts can be found in Saxony (19.81 %), Baden-Wuerttemberg (17.14 %), and Hesse (13.48 %).

Table 6 shows descriptive statistics for the total number of industrial monuments, as well as separately for the areas of production, supply, traffic, and bridges and aqueducts per district (402 districts or NUTS3 region). On average, a district has just under 71 industrial monuments, with 26 monuments in production, 29 in supply, and 17 in traffic. The average number of monuments in the area of bridges and aqueducts is just under 18. All districts have at least three industrial monuments. The number of districts without a monument in the area of production/supply/traffic/bridges and aqueducts is 3/4/7/16.

A comparison of the absoluvte number of monuments between regions makes little sense if the size of a region is not taken into account. For this purpose, it makes sense to relate the number of monuments to the population or to the area of the region. When calculating the number of industrial monuments in relation to the population, it should be borne in mind that this is not the same as the density of people who have made memorable contributions to the industrial development of the region. The number of industrial monuments in relation to the current population is very strongly influenced by the population development that has taken place over the last few centuries, in particular by population migration.

Figure 1 shows the geographical distribution of industrial monuments per inhabitant. It is noticeable that many eastern German regions have comparatively high values. The high density of industrial monuments, particularly in the south of the former GDR, is apparently due to the fact that these regions were among the most industrialized regions of the former German Reich before the Second World War and the division of Germany, some of which have a long tradition. A high number of industrial monuments per 1,000 inhabitants can also be found in many regions in the center and southwest of Germany. In comparison, the geographical distribution of industrial monuments per 10 square kilometers, especially cities and agglomerations, stand out in Figure 2. Further maps on the distribution of industrial monuments at labor market region level as well as separate analyses of the three areas of production, traffic, and supply can be found in the Online-Appendix.

Figure 1:

Number of industrial monuments per 1,000 inhabitants in Germany (districts).

Figure 2:

Number of industrial monuments per 10 km² in Germany (districts).

5 Conclusion and Outlook

Industrial monuments represent important elements of the historical heritage of regions. This report describes the process of creating the first database of industrial monuments in Germany’s regions. With this database, we are closing an important data gap, which helps better analyzing regional development. The data allow for rich analyses on how historical economic structures affect current economic and social behavior and development. Particularly, the data help understanding whether there is a collective memory of industrial tradition that affects regions long into the future.

Initial evaluations of spatial structure of the industrial monuments (Section 4) reveal major regional differences. More in-depth analyses will certainly provide new insights into the influences of regional history and culture on development.