The Nizhny Tagil Charter for the Industrial Heritage

The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH)

17 July, 2003

TICCIH is the world organisation representing industrial heritage and is special adviser to ICOMOS on industrial heritage. The text of this charter was passed by the assembled delegates at the triennial National Assembly of TICCIH held in Moscow on 17 July, 2003.
Preamble

The earliest periods of human history are defined by the archaeological evidence for fundamental changes in the ways in which people made objects, and the importance of conserving and studying the evidence of these changes is universally accepted.

From the Middle Ages, innovations in Europe in the use of energy and in trade and commerce led to a change towards the end of the 18th century just as profound as that between the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, with developments in the social, technical and economic circumstances of manufacturing sufficiently rapid and profound to be called a revolution. The Industrial Revolution was the beginning of a historical phenomenon that has affected an ever-greater part of the human population, as well as all the other forms of life on our planet, and that continues to the present day.

The material evidence of these profound changes is of universal human value, and the importance of the study and conservation of this evidence must be recognised.

The delegates assembled for the 2003 TICCIH Congress in Russia wish therefore to assert that the buildings and structures built for industrial activities, the processes and tools used within them and the towns and landscapes in which they are located, along with all their other tangible and intangible manifestations, are of fundamental importance. They should be studied, their history should be taught, their meaning and significance should be probed and made clear for everyone, and the most significant and characteristic examples should be identified, protected and maintained, in accordance with the spirit of the Venice Charter (1), for the use and benefit of today and of the future.

(1)  The ICOMOS 'Venice Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites', 1964.