By Marco Fidel Suárez Bedoya
Defining industrial heritage is not a simple task since assets potentially declarable as such could be classified, at the same time and without any problem, in any other category of heritage, such as architectural heritage, for example. So, what can convert an asset into industrial heritage? Perhaps it is an overly simplistic answer but it can help us understand it: said good must be part of the historical context of the Industrial Revolution that occurred there in the middle of the 18th century in Europe but that timidly arrived in Latin America to become notorious in the 19th century, even in the 20th, and that reveals an unprecedented change in society, an entire economic, social, technological and, of course, cultural transformation, based on work. Thus, a pre-Hispanic aqueduct or a colonial mill do not fall into this category since they belong to a different historical context, to a much earlier era. On the other hand, we could consider industrial heritage La Fábrica de Loza Bogotana or the Ferrocarril de Antioquia, to mention just two Colombian examples.
It is worth clarifying that not all the memories we have from the time should be considered industrial heritage simply because they belong to it. Let us remember that heritage is a social construction and, therefore, said asset must maintain a relationship of importance, interest, meaning or identity, for the human community in which it is located. It must show some kind of legacy. In the case of the examples cited, the Bogotá Earthenware Factory tells us about how the elites of the time proposed to introduce and direct social, housing and labor practices considered ideal for the progress of the city (Therrien, 2008) and how this process changed the life of the sector, outlining a heritage that is still present today; For its part, the Antioquia Railway tells us about a railway line that, with the technology of the time, managed to circumvent a too steep geography and bring economic and social development to the region, with its pros and cons, forever marking the pride of the Antioquians who pride themselves on being strong people. Can we talk about Antioquia and its people without talking about the Railway? I honestly don't believe it.
In this order of ideas, industrial heritage is worthy of conservation because it is a vestige that marks the exact point at which the history of the world completely deviates from the direction it was taking; a point where technology becomes the protagonist and the ways of relating between human beings, the economy, culture and society itself are transformed and begin an accelerated evolution towards the world we know today; a point where work and production define the social system and also begin their own evolution until they are the elements that we know and live today. Industrial heritage, more than a memory, is a starting point that tells us about the destiny that one day we chose and continue to transform. It is an image that tells us what we were and proposes a set of reflections on where we want to go.
A question then arises that leads us to the most practical thought: How to preserve this type of heritage? Each heritage category may have specific forms of conservation, but one thing that is certain is that everything that is considered heritage begins to be protected from the moment we become aware of its importance, as well as its relationship with the environment and with the communities. There are those who advocate tourism as a form of conservation (Fernández and Guzmán Ramos, 2004), and especially for industrial heritage, and this is worthy of applause, since they propose an articulation of the public sector and the private sector to incorporate the assets from industrial heritage to tourist routes, emphasizing the educational role of this activity, its dynamic driving socioeconomic benefits and the need for sustainable development that safeguards the identity, history and legacy of human communities.
Sources
Carreton, Adrián. (s.f). ¿Existe el patrimonio industrial? En Patrimonio Inteligente. [En línea]. Disponible en: https://patrimoniointeligente.com/exite-el-patrimonio-industrial/
Fernández, G. y Guzmán Ramos, A. (2004). Rutas turísticas a partir del patrimonio industrial. Nuevos productos en viejas estructuras. Turismo y Sociedad. 3, (nov. 2004). Pp. 40-52. Recuperado de: https://revistas.uexternado.edu.co/index.php/tursoc/article/view/2223
Therrien, Mónika. (2008). Patrimonio y arqueología industrial: ¿investigación vs. protección? Políticas del patrimonio industrial en Colombia. En Apuntes, vol. 21, núm. 1. Pp. 44-61. Recuperado de: https://biblat.unam.mx/es/revista/apuntes-bogota/articulo/patrimonio-y-arqueologia-industrial-investigacion-vs-proteccion-politicas-del-patrimonio-industrial-en-colombia