Vladimir Potanin Foundation and Agency "CENTER" to Study Best Practices in Industrial Heritage
The Vladimir Potanin Foundation and Agency for strategic development "CENTER" have launched the study Analysis of Practices for the Capitalisation and Representation of Industrial Heritage. Its objective is to examine and systematise Russian experience in preserving and adapting industrial heritage for contemporary use, and to identify the most successful approaches in this field.
For the Vladimir Potanin Foundation, the new study continues its long-standing, systematic work with industrial heritage. The subject featured in projects and professional discussions supported and initiated by the Foundation long before it launched a dedicated competition. The experience accumulated over time, coupled with growing interest in reimagining industrial heritage, led to the creation of Industrial Experiment in 2021 - a specialised competition within the Museum Without Borders programme. Over five competition cycles, 85 projects from across Russia have received support.
The Foundation also shares its accumulated experience with wider audiences and the professional community. In 2024, it released the documentary Culture Manufactory, which explores the second life of former factories and industrial sites in Russian cities. The film features participants in industrial heritage projects, building owners and managers, museum professionals and experts.
Oksana OrachevaCEO of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation
Industrial heritage has long been a key focus for the Foundation. We have supported a range of projects in this field and created platforms for professional dialogue on the future of industrial sites. Over time, the experience we accumulated led us to launch a dedicated competition, Industrial Experiment. Over the years, we have explored a wide variety of approaches to preserving and reimagining industrial heritage. This has demonstrated just how diverse a role such heritage can play in contemporary cultural and public life. The next step was the film Culture Manufactory, which brought this broad range of experience together and presented it to a wider audience, as well as the study Industrial Heritage as a Resource for the Development of Culture, Traditions and Social Practices. We now need to take this work further by examining the experience accumulated across the country from a systemic perspective, identifying the most sustainable and effective solutions, and understanding the factors that enable them to succeed. We hope the new study will become a valuable tool for those already working with industrial heritage, as well as those taking their first steps in this field.
The study will produce a catalogue of 100 sites representing different approaches to preserving, reimagining and adapting industrial heritage for contemporary use. Ten projects will be examined in detail. These include the Old Demidov Plant in Nizhny Tagil, Russia’s first museum factory dedicated to the history of ferrous metallurgy; Okeanrybflot in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka’s first interactive industrial museum; and the former Unsky Sawmill in the Arkhangelsk Region, where an initiative is being implemented that treats industrial heritage as an integrated landscape and combines research, artistic and commemorative practices.
The study will cover not only industrial buildings and sites, but also intangible heritage, including technologies, professional language, workers’ folklore, traditions and other expressions of industrial culture. It will also examine the tools and products of manufacturing, from equipment to finished goods. This comprehensive approach will make it possible to consider industrial heritage not as a collection of individual surviving sites, but as an important part of the history and identity of cities and communities.
The research team will develop a typology of industrial heritage sites and systematise existing practices for working with them. This will help identify the factors that determine the success of such projects and inform recommendations for developing and replicating the most effective approaches.
The study will include field research at selected sites and interviews with leading industrial heritage professionals. The experts include Narine Tyutcheva, an architect and heritage specialist; Margarita Stieglitz, a member of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences; and Alisa Prudnikova, Programming Director at V–A–C Foundation and GES-2 House of Culture.
Sergei GeorgievskiiCo-founder, Agency for strategic development "CENTER"
Industrial heritage is a resource that can provide cities with a new quality of living environment. It can create public spaces and opportunities for integrated territorial development, attract investment and strengthen local identity. We have been studying this heritage for many years and have observed steadily growing interest in it. The time has now come to consolidate and thoroughly analyse the experience accumulated to date and determine which approaches to industrial heritage are the most successful, what drives their success and what reduces the likelihood of effective project implementation. We are confident that this will provide a comprehensive analytical foundation for future work with industrial heritage
The study Analysis of Practices for the Capitalisation and Representation of Industrial Heritage will be completed by the end of 2026. Its interim and final findings will be presented at public industry events and discussed with the professional community.