Industrial Heritage

During two years of implementation project partners revised the industrial heritage in Estonia and Latvia, mainly in the programme area. The revision resulted in the creation of a new tourism product - Industrial heritage route, which has 5 thematic sub-routes - mills and hydroelectric power stations, old manufacturing sites, railway heritage, lighthouses, and water towers and route maps cover altogether 85 sites.

The project partners have made small investments in 25 industrial heritage sites and received advice from mentors on how to improve their offers to the visitors (please have a look at the route images):

• 5 mills and hydroelectric power stations - Leevaku hydroelectric power station, Lahmuse, Jaunpils, Rideļi, and Hellenurme watermills
• 9 old manufacturing sites - Rappina paper factory, Līgatne paper factory workers flat, Limbažu tine factory, Kuldīga needle factory tower, Alatskivi barn dryer, Tootsi peat briquette factory museum, Lumanda lime park, Baloži peat railway, Ķoņi watermill
• 4 railway heritage sites - Gulbene depo, Haapsalu railway and communications museum, Airīte railway station, Risti water tower
• 4 lighthouses - Oviši, Tahkuna, Ristna, and Sorve
• 3 water towers - Aizpute, Bīriņi and Zilaiskalns
   

Another result of a series of networking and cooperation activities was the creation of the industrial heritage network in Estonia and Latvia. Members of the network benefited from the competence building initiatives such as regional seminars and thematic workshops. 
 

The lead partner of the project has established contacts also worldwide – www.erih.net; www.e-faith.org and other interest groups on social media. They supported project implementation with the transfer of knowledge, expertise, and trends as well as facilitated better recognition of the industrial heritage of Latvia and Estonia among industrial heritage professionals.
 

Project’s marketing activities aimed at providing greater awareness about the whole region and to increase the number of visitors at the sites. A great success was the Industrial heritage weekend organized by regional partners. In five weekends in September and October, 2018 in Estonia and Latvia industrial heritage sites visited more than 13 000 visitors and it is now a new event that takes place every year. Guide book and route maps, as well the route website cover in total 85 amazing sites. Industrial heritage sites can be viewed on the interactive map. There is information about each site and its tourism offer as well as its location, description, photo galleries, and 360 degrees virtual tours are available. In total there are 60 virtual tours and 65 sites are featured with great photos.   

The project story is featured on the INFOREGIO project's database and in 2018 the project has been awarded the label of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and the label was used in the project's events and communications throughout 2018.

Project materials

GUIDE book "Industrial Heritage for Tourism in Estonia and Latvia"
ENG, EE, LV, RU, DE

Brochure "Lümanda Lime and Tar Distilling Park"
EE, ENG, FI and LV, DE, RU

Route map - ENG, EE, LV, RU, DE