From thousand-year-old mines to company towns and factories, here’s our selection of the best historic industrial sites in Europe to discover.
Europe has such a wealth of history to explore, not all of it as obvious as its castles, palaces and cathedrals. The best historic industrial sites in Europe may not match these monuments for beauty, but they are what made the continent wealthy. Without them, and the riches they generated, many of the most famous sights in Europe may never have been built.
I’ve spent many years exploring industrial heritage in Europe, from the former coal mines on my former doorstep in South Wales to medieval mines in Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany. Add in the world’s first industrial shipyard, villages built for workers by their benevolent bosses and one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Germany built by the profits of a centuries-old mine.
And you have some seriously compelling industrial heritage sites in Europe to seek out on your travels. I didn’t imagine I’d be so enthusiastic when I visited the first of these sites in my teens, but it has been a fascinating journey I never want to end. I hope you find some inspiration too.
Historic Industrial Sites In Europe
Arsenale, Venice, Italy
The world’s first industrial shipyard – 400 years before the Industrial Revolution
History books will tell you that the Industrial Revolution in Europe started in the 18th century. This is true, with the exception of one outlier – the Arsenale, the shipyard of Venice, which was around 400 years ahead of the game.
Ships were also built elsewhere, of course, but not at the speed of the Arsenale, whose production line could turn out a ship from scratch in a single day.
The shipyard remains in use, under the control of the Italian Navy and therefore off limits to visitors. However, you can visit the ceremonial gateway and entrance to the Arsenale, complete with its lion sculptures, in the Castello sestiere.
I recommend combining this with a visit to the Museo Storico Navale (Naval History Museum), close to the entrance of the Rio dell’Arsenale canal. Here they have an array of centuries-old Venetian boats, from a replica of the ceremonial procession-leading Bucintoro barge to gondolas and more modern craft. The Museum is open daily except Tuesdays. Click on this link for tickets.
Nearest vaporetto stop: Arsenale (line 1)
See Also: 34 Famous Venice Landmarks
Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland
Fantastic 800-year-old mine, one of the best day trips from Krakow
Salt was a precious trading commodity in the Middle Ages, as it was essential for preserving food. And when vast deposits of rock salt were found at Wieliczka, near Krakow, in the 13th century, it transformed the economy of the entire country, greatly enriching it.
The Salt Mine, an easy day trip from Krakow, is one of the best places to visit in Poland. Some of the workings are up to 750 years old, and it has attracted visitors for over 500 of these – one of the first known guests was astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, in 1493!
The tourist route which I took takes you 800 steps underground, through centuries-old tunnels, past a stunning salt lake to the magnificent Chapel of St Kinga, a vast underground space adorned with intricate salt carvings, lit by chandeliers made of rock salt.
There is also a Miners’ Route, in which you become a novice medieval salt miner for a few hours.
Underground tours last between two and three hours – you can book your English-language tour, with pickup from Krakow, here.
Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire, England
The first iron bridge in the world – and that’s just the start of it
Ironbridge is often described as the ‘birthplace of the Industrial Revolution’, and though not strictly true, it could at least claim to be one of a number of places where these enormous changes first came about.
The Ironbridge Gorge is a large area spread across several villages near the town of Telford, close to the Welsh Borders. This includes a Gorge over the River Severn at the village of Ironbridge. In 1709 Abraham Darby developed the first coke-powered blast furnace at Coalbrookdale, and his grandson, Abraham Darby III, financed the building of the world’s first iron bridge at what became known as the village of Ironbridge, and this is the one sight most tour parties get to see.
You could easily fill a whole weekend visiting the ten museums around the Gorge. These include the excellent Museum of the Gorge, the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron and Enginuity, the best option for kids with plenty of interactive displays.
If you have more time available, I also suggest the Blists Hill Victorian Town, two miles away in Madeley.
As for tickets, if you’re going to be spending more than a day there, I recommend the £38 Pass, which entitles you to entry to all of the Museums for a full year from the date of purchase of your ticket. Alternatively, you can buy single tickets for each attraction within the Gorge area,
Rammelsberg Mine, Goslar, Germany
A millennium-old mine and the stunning medieval town that grew around it
The 1,000-year-old Rammelsberg Mine in the Harz Mountains is one of the outstanding industrial attractions in Europe. It was mined for silver, copper and lead from 968 AD until its deposits were exhausted, over a millennium later.
The best tour is the Mine Train, taking you deep underground among the centuries-old workings. This tour runs in English between April and October, and German only during the winter months. You can also visit the power station, ore dressing plant and storehouse.
The Mine is around two miles (3 km) south of Goslar, one of the most beautiful half-timbered towns in Germany. You see signs of Goslar’s past wealth everywhere you look, particularly at the intricate carvings on many of the houses. These vary from the carved miner pictured above to the gold coin-pooping figures on a house in the main square. It’s a fascinating town, definitely worth an overnight stay.
See Also: 16 Best Things To Do In Goslar Germany
Getting there: the 803 bus runs from Goslar bus station, next to the train station.
Silver Mine, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic
The medieval mine that made this small Bohemian town mega-wealthy
The eastern Bohemian World Heritage town of Kutná Hora made its fortune from the seams of silver beneath it. These brought it astonishing wealth, enabling it to build the likes of the stunning Gothic Cathedral of St Barbara.
Fortunately, you can still visit the silver mine that made the town so wealthy. A guided tour takes you below the surface, where you squeeze along a series of very narrow passages. This was one place where being a big guy like me is definitely not an advantage – I ended up having to negotiate one passage on my knees, much to the amusement of our guide and my son.
There’s also an informative museum upstairs in the Italian Court, showing the processes of production at the Mint there. And my son was delighted to be able to strike a Kutná Hora coin for himself as part of our package.
While in the town, don’t miss the Kutná Hora Bone Church in nearby Sedlec, and the lovely Baroque-Gothic Cathedral of the Assumption 200 metres from there.
Kutná Hora is one of the most popular day trips from Prague, and it’s easily reachable by train or on a tour.
See Also: Things To Do In Kutná Hora
Welsh Slate Landscape, North Wales UK
Wales’ 4th World Heritage Site, and its least-known
The slate landscape of North West Wales was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021. In the late 19th century, when the industry was at its peak, it was said that North Wales roofed the world with its slate, and the remains of the slate quarries are scattered across the county of Gwynedd. Most of these are concentrated around the mountains of Eryri (more widely known as the Snowdonia National Park).
The Welsh slate industry differed from others in the British Isles in that its workforce was mostly made up of Welsh speakers, at a time when the language was very much in a minority nationally, with many schools effectively banning its use. A rich culture grew among the quarrying communities, and they went on to found Bangor University – close to several of the quarries – in the early 20th century, to give their children better educational opportunities in the future.
The most striking of the six slate quarrying areas is Blaenau Ffestiniog, a town surrounded by the peaks of the Moelwynion range and towering heaps of slate spoil looming over the terraces of the town. You can still take the old tour of the Llechwedd Slate Caverns on the northern edge of the town, and part of the quarry is now given over to zip wire rides and a huge underground trampoline.
Blaenau Ffestiniog is one of the starkest landscapes in Wales, indeed Europe – nowhere else in the continent is anything like it. It’s fascinating to walk in the mountains above the town – I particularly recommend the walk up to the ruins at Cwmorthin and, higher up, Rhosydd.
The National Slate Museum in Llanberis – in the shadow of Wales’ highest mountain, Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) – is a great introduction to the industry and its history, with daily demonstrations of the skill of splitting slates.
The Slate Landscape is only a few miles from another Welsh World Heritage Site, the four Castles of Edward I in Gwynedd, including Caernarfon Castle. It’s nowhere near as well-known as the Castles, but its story is just as compelling. And I’m particularly proud to have worked on the early stages of this successful bid for recognition as a World Heritage Site years before it was awarded.
See Also: Welsh Slate Landscape – The Complete Guide
Völklingen Ironworks, Germany
The only surviving complete Ironworks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Völklingen Ironworks (Völklinger Hutte) is perhaps the most impressive of all the sites featured in this article. The Saarland was an industrial powerhouse in the early 20th century, so much so that the Treaty of Versailles – the settlement at the end of World War I – stipulated that the area should be under French control, to reduce German industrial productivity.
The Ironworks were in operation for over a century, finally closing in 1986. They became one of the first modern industrial sites to be awarded World Heritage status eight years later, in 1994.
The site remains much as it was when it was closed almost 40 years ago. The skyline is exactly the same, and one of the highlights of your visit is working your way up the warren of steel staircases to the viewpoints overlooking the blast furnaces.
Some parts of the Ironworks are now used as exhibition spaces for art (If you’ve seen how well Tate Modern in London works in this regard, you may not be too surprised). Some parts of the outbuildings have been turned into works of art. And beyond, in the Paradise area of the site, Nature has been left to run riot over the ruins. An unusual but fascinating sight.
Getting there: Völklingen is an 11-minute train ride from the border city of Saarbrücken.
Cornish Tin Mines, England
One of the most picturesque British World Heritage Sites
Tin has been mined in Cornwall and West Devon since the Bronze Age – around 4,000 years – and silver, copper and lead reserves have also been exploited in this southwestern corner of England. Tin, in particular, was a big earner in medieval times, but it was during the 19th century that the industry there reached its zenith. It was only when cheaper tin from elsewhere in the world undercut Cornish prices that the industry came to an end.
The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is one of the most extensive – and evocative – World Heritage Sites in the UK and Europe. It extends from the iconic Wheal Betsy engine house in Dartmoor in the east to the coastline of the Land’s End peninsula to the west, and includes over ten sites.
If you’re pushed for time, my advice is to drive around the westernmost sites. Wheal Coates, near the village of St Ganes, between Newquay and Hayle, is perhaps the most beautiful of the sites, perched near a clifftop above the turquoise waters of the Atlantic.
The most concentrated area is the north of the Penwith Peninsula to the north of Land’s End. Here, follow the B3306 past the Carn Galver Engine House near Porthmeor, continuing to the Geevor Tin Mine and Levant Mine near the village of St Just. More disused mine chimneys line the road before you reach Botallack Mine on a wild stretch of coast near the village of the same name. This area – west of the hamlets of Botallack and Kenidjack – is a photographer’s paradise.
Arc-et-Senans Salt Works, France
Where Enlightenment elegance meets 18th-century industry
The Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans are the grandest of industrial sites in Europe, built during the reign of King Louis XV. Designed as a facility to extract salt from brine brought by a canal, the complex resembles an Ancient Greek temple, with portico, Doric columns and even a central dome.
The Salt Works were designed and built by Claude Nicolas Ledoux. He was partly influenced by the Enlightenment, and set out to create an industrial building unlike any other. He certainly succeeded in that. He was helped by having a vast budget, the result of a state monopoly and an unpopular tax on salt levied on consumers.
Ledoux intended to build a model city, but the project never came about. The Salt Works continued production until 1895, after which they were closed due to cheaper sea salt being imported from the coast.
You can book your tickets and optional audio guide here.
Ivrea, Italy
Company town partly built by the Olivetti organization
Ivrea is one of countless hidden gems in Italy, somewhere relatively few time-poor tourists get to tread. An easy day trip from Turin, it’s well worth the short journey to explore both the old town (with its Castle and Cathedral) and its 20th-century industrial town built by the Olivetti company.
Olivetti, who manufactured typewriters, and later calculators and computers, built most of their model company town in Ivrea between the 1930s and the 1960s. This included their modernist office buildings, and also workers’ housing (in apartments), schools and a research centre. Adriano Olivetti, who inspired the Movimento Comunita (Community Movement), inspired much of the work at Ivrea, which is a later example of the concept of the likes of Saltaire (see below) in England.
Titanic Belfast, Northern Ireland
Superb museum telling the tragic tale of the Titanic in the shipyard where it was built
Titanic Belfast is one of the most famous landmarks in Ireland, a ship-like building on the Harland & Wolff shipyard where the famous ill-fated ocean liner was built.
Unlike the other European industrial attractions I’ve featured, it’s a relatively new attraction that tells the story, rather than a site whose remnants you can explore.
The Titanic Experience is a series of interactive displays, covering the building of the ship through to its only voyage. You get the full effect, with sights, sounds and smells on board the ship.
A visit also includes the Discovery Tour, a partly outdoors walk with an audio guide explaining the history of the Titanic, with many stories of individuals who perished in the sinking, and those who survived.
For tickets to Titanic Belfast, book here.
Rhondda Valley and Rhondda Heritage Park, Wales
The heartland of the South Wales coalfield, once the most productive in the world
The coal industry completely transformed the hitherto green rural South Wales Valleys. Even after the mines are long gone, many of the black heaps of coal waste remain, even if they’re partly disguised by a layer of grass. But one aspect remains very much visible – their unique urban landscape, with long terraces of houses lining the floor and steep sides of the Valleys.
Some of these homes were built by mine owners, such as Archibald Hood’s Scotch Houses in Llwynypia. Similar terraces can be found right across the former South Wales coalfield, from the Gwendraeth Valley in the west to the Afon Llwyd valley below Blaenavon to the east.
The one mine to have been preserved in the Rhondda is the former Lewis Merthyr Colliery in the village of Trehafod, four miles beyond the town of Pontypridd if you’re travelling via the A470 or Cardiff. Long known as the Rhondda Heritage Park (old habits die hard!) it has recently been rebranded The Welsh Black Gold Experience.
I’ve taken a few friends there down the years, and it’s a great place to visit, whether it’s your first time underground or you’ve visited many places like this. The guides – retired miners – are exceptional, full of fascinating stories about life underground, and also life in the Rhondda in general. You can book your tickets here.
See Also: 33 Best Day Trips From Cardiff
Zollverein Coal Mine, Essen, Germany
Mega-mine in the heart of Germany’s powerhouse Ruhr region
The Ruhr region in North Rhine-Westphalia was the industrial powerhouse of Germany from the mid-19th century onwards, and the Zollverein Coal Mine was its most productive pit. It was founded in 1847 by Ruhr industrialist Franz Haniel, who also built a huge coking plant on an adjacent site.
Zollverein continued to be extended well into the 20th century, most notably with the addition of Shaft 12 in the 1930s. Its winding tower and boiler house were built in the contemporary Bauhaus style, and were among the most iconic buildings in Germany at the time.
The coal mine was eventually closed in 1986 as it was no longer profitable, with the coking plant following seven years later. The Zollverein site was then made a World Heritage Site in 2001.
You can join underground guided tours of the site, including the famous Shaft 12 – these only began in 2024. The Coal Washery within the complex also houses the Ruhr Museum. Which covers the whole of this remarkable part of Germany.
Saltaire, England, UK
Workers’ village built by 19th-century industrialist Titus Salt
In 1851, Sir Titus Salt decided to move his textile business to a site near Shipley, just outside Bradford in what is now West Yorkshire. Over the next 20 years, he built five cotton mills there, along with housing for his workers, a hospital, schools, churches, a library and concert hall.
The houses in Saltaire would have been the envy of workers forced to live in the slums of nearby Bradford. The golden stone houses cottages and houses are beautiful (and now much sought after) and they had access to running water.
The model workers’ village was built next to the River Aire (the second half of its name) and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, along which the finished cotton was transported. Saltaire wasn’t the first such workers’ model village in the UK – the village of New Lanark in Scotland was founded in 1786. But it helped the ethos live on – the Tripe Colony, near where I used to live in Manchester, England – was a later example, built around 1900.
Van Nelle Factory, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Groundbreaking factory complex in Rotterdam, now a World Heritage Site
Architect Le Corbusier called it ‘the most beautiful spectacle of the modern age.’ It might not have been quite that wonderful, but this modernist Rotterdam factory was definitely years ahead of its time.
Van Nelle was a well-known Dutch brand until the end of the 1980s, when the company was bought by Douwe Egberts and Sara Lee. They produced coffee, tea, cigarettes and various foods at the site.
The series of buildings all have a concrete core, but the facades mostly consist of steel and glass, allowing the interiors to be flooded with natural daylight. The innovative designs were held up as an example of an excellent working environment, and influenced many other industrial complexes throughout the 20th century.
The factory, which finally closed in 1996, is now a Museum, and you can buy your guided tour tickets here.
Crespi d’Adda, Bergamo, Italy
Italian ‘company town’ built around a textile mill
Crespi d’Adda is a small company town built by industrialist Cristoforo Crespi around his cotton mill powered by the Adda river near Bergamo. In 1878 he commissioned architect Ernesto Pirovano to build this village where his employees could live close to their place of work.
The work took up around 50 years of Pirovano’s life, as he worked on houses, a church, a cemetery, a school and a theatre. Crespi’s son visited England in 1889 and was inspired by similar workers’ housing ventures. This led to a shift away from multi-home blocks to single houses with gardens, believed to be better living conditions for employees. The happy living environment contributed to a good working environment, with no industrial disputes during the time the Crespi family managed the business and village.
Crespi d’Adda’s factory remained open until 2004, and many of the residents are descendants of its workers.
Jachymov Mine, Czech Republic
Uranium, radium, a unique spa – and the birthplace of the dollar
The town of Jachymov is one of the least-known – but most intriguing – locations in this article. It was founded in the 16th century after the discovery of silver deposits, which were exploited by the Svornost mine from 1525 onwards.
High in the Ore Mountains – and part of the Erzgebirge-Ore Mountains World Heritage Site – the Svornost mine remains operational, and it’s the oldest working mine on the continent. It’s also open for visits.
The silver mined there was used for coins – particularly the thaler or dollar. The town became known as St Joachimstal in German, and later Jachymov in Czech.
Many more mineral deposits were found in the Jachymov area, including cobalt, nickel and uranium. Marie Curie also discovered radium from uraninite offcuts from the town.
The radioactive spring water found in Jachymov is rich in radon gas, and this is used for treating various muscle and skin diseases. Treatments are available at the Radium Palace Hotel, something quite different from the spa treatments available in the much more widely known resort of Karlovy Vary a few miles away.
Getting there: Buses 308 and 309 from Karlovy Vary
Best Historic Industrial Sites in Europe – Final Thoughts
Some of the sites I’ve written about in this article are part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) – their website is well worth a look.
I’ve also written numerous themed guides to Europe, all of which are designed to give you some inspiration for your future travels. Take a look at some of these:
15 Underrated Cities In Europe
15 Best Off The Beaten Path World Heritage Sites In Europe
11 Best Unexplored Regions In Europe
15 Most Beautiful Villages In Europe
12 Best Border Towns In Europe
23 Most Beautiful Streets In Europe
31 Most Beautiful Squares In Europe
35 Most Beautiful Churches In Europe
David Angel is a British photographer, writer and historian. He is a European travel expert with over 30 years’ experience exploring Europe. He has a degree in History from Manchester University, and his work is regularly featured in global media including the BBC, Condé Nast Traveler, The Guardian, The Times, and The Sunday Times. David is fluent in French and Welsh, and can also converse in Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Czech and Polish.