European Heritage Label Awarded to the Industrial Heritage of Varkaus

The European Heritage Label has been awarded since 2013 to sites located within the European Union that play a key role in European history, culture and integration. In total, the label has been granted to 80 sites across Europe. Two sites in Finland had previously received the European Heritage Label: Seminaarinmäki campus in Jyväskylä and equal education, and Kalevala – Living Epic Heritage.

The industrial heritage of Varkaus brings together an industrial cultural environment, events, art, natural heritage and a long industrial history. The Old Varkaus area includes three nationally significant built cultural heritage sites (RKY) as well as a protected rapid landscape. The Varkaus Museum Centre Konsti, which opened in 2024, combines industrial history and art through exhibitions, events and shared community spaces. The site as a whole offers an eastern Finnish perspective on the phases of European industrialisation, the rise of the labour movement and the development of civil society over nearly three centuries.

“The selection of Varkaus as a recipient of the European Heritage Label is a significant recognition of Finland’s industrial cultural heritage. In Varkaus, industrial history, labour heritage, art and nature come together. The label brings the cultural environment of Varkaus and Finnish cultural heritage more broadly to the attention of European audiences and strengthens understanding of our shared history,” says Minister of Science and Culture Mari-Leena Talvitie.

The development project linked to the application, which focuses on making the site more multilingual and particularly accessible for young audiences, deepens understanding of how Varkaus’s industrial heritage is connected to wider European industrial and societal transformations.

“It is especially important to offer children and young people opportunities to engage with industrial heritage and to highlight also critical perspectives on the impacts of industrialisation,” says Leena Marsio, Senior Specialist at the Finnish Heritage Agency.

The application was coordinated by the City of Varkaus’s Museum Centre Konsti and Culture and Events Services, in partnership with Navitas Kehitys Oy / Visit Varkaus.

European Heritage Labels Are Awarded to Significant Cultural Heritage Sites

The European Heritage Label is a European Union cultural heritage initiative that aims to increase citizens’ knowledge of European history, the building of the European Union, and Europe’s shared yet diverse cultural heritage. Finland joined the EU initiative in 2018. The Finnish Heritage Agency coordinates its national implementation.

Since 2014, the European Commission has awarded the label to 80 sites in 21 countries. These sites relate, among other themes, to built heritage, documents, cultural environments and intangible cultural heritage. The label may be awarded to sites within the EU that are of key importance to European history, culture and integration. Receipt of the label includes an obligation to further develop the site through a dedicated educational project.

In this round, the European Heritage Label was awarded to 13 sites. In addition to Varkaus, recipients include, for example, the Free Speech Spaces in the Czech Republic, and the jointly nominated Peace Treaty Sites located in seven countries. Other recipients include the Catacombs of St Paul in Malta, the Pader Urban River Landscape in Germany, and Italy’s Bosco Delle Querce National Oak Forest, planted after an ecological disaster.