A further step in the cluster-based collaboration between Leather Cluster Barcelona and the Igualada Leather Museum

The Igualada Leather Museum received a visit from the Board of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). This visit, headed by the organisation’s president, Walter Hauser, aimed to learn about the rich industrial legacy of Catalonia and, in particular, the record of the Leather Museum as a disseminator and conservator of Igualada’s tanning heritage.

The visit is especially significant in the context of the recent incorporation of Catalonia as a new regional route within the European ERIH network, which encompasses a total of 19 museums and heritage sites belonging to the Territorial System of the National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC).

During the visit, Miquel Vila and Carla Vélez, adviser and project manager respectively of Leather Cluster Barcelona, and Glòria Escala, director of the Leather Museum, presented to the ERIH Board the values and potential of the Catalan leather cluster, to which the Museum belongs. During the meeting they explained the Museum’s future projects in collaboration with the various stakeholders of the leather value chain that make up Leather Cluster Barcelona, with the aim of bringing the heritage linked to the memory of the tanning industry closer to the current reality of the leather sector. The Museum highlighted its ongoing commitment to the conservation and dissemination of heritage, as well as its determination to innovate in presenting an activity that has been and continues to be key to the economic and social development of Igualada.

The ERIH delegation was made up of leading figures of the European industrial heritage world, among them the vice-president Dr Adam Hajduga, the treasurer Susanne Röskes, the secretary general Christiane Baum, long-standing members such as Prof. Dr Meinrad Maria Grewenig and Massimo Preite, and Javier Puertas as Spanish representative and president of the Basque Association of Industrial Heritage and Public Works.

ERIH, which came into being in the late 1990s, is currently the most extensive network devoted to the promotion and protection of industrial heritage on the European continent. Recognised as a European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe since 2019, it has more than 2,200 sites of interest spread across 51 countries. Only 112 of these hold the Anchor Point distinction, among them MNACTEC, which guarantee a high-quality visitor experience and exceptional heritage value.

This meeting between the ERIH representatives and the Leather Museum was highly fruitful and underlined the importance of the relations between the museum institution and the leather cluster, while also strengthening links with other industrial regions of Europe.

For many years there has been close collaboration between the Igualada Leather Museum and Leather Cluster Barcelona.

Recently, the Igualada Leather Museum and Leather Cluster Barcelona have intensified their cluster-based cooperation with a range of activities, among them the promotion of industrial tourism. The museum, as the cluster’s leading member in culture and history, is an important ambassador and a key player in providing information and generating a positive current of opinion about the leather sector among the public.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited entity within the Catalonia Clusters programme and is supported by Acció.