Their remains, still pieces of the society, could narrate the old working conditions and the production circumstances that dominated with the passage of time. These surely defined a mass of workers and consequently a huge proportion of the society. Now we understand why the plant’s remains constitute an integral part of Eleysina’s cultural heritage.
Last decades, acceptations as restoration and the reuse of old industrial places are added in the general meaning of cultural heritage. These “technical monuments” as the formal characterization is, goal to their sanitation and reintegration in the society, while serving a different purpose from the initial one. For example, the industrial building shells of Eleusina, host various cultural events during Aeschylus festival, since 2003.
Let’s start from the beginning! France, in the early 19th century, was the first country who begin to catalog the old industrial facilities, considering that the industrial heritage is a strong part of country’s cultural heritage. This explanation had twofold approaches. Such places were absolute connected with the financial and social statement of a city, a strong expression of its development. Furthermore, they constituted material and spiritual evidences both for individuals and their collective living. So, the idea was spreading in whole Europe around 1950 and the field of “industrial Archaeology” was created.
This new area tries to combine the past with the present, taking advantage of plants’ special architecture and typology with huge premises suitable for new appropriations that perfectly fit to the building, adding to its historical value, respecting its cultural importance and the surrounding area. The reuse of an industrial monument usually serves social needs that connected with people’s identity and their perpetuation. The most commonly – held reuses have to do with cultural events consist of theatrical and dance performances, concerts, all sorts of art exhibitions, film screenings, scientific meetings, tributes and events of any sort. Aeschylia, the leading cultural institution of Eleusina was the main reason which gave a fresh breath to the local industrial facilities. Music, voices, applauses, artificial lights and the cultural events couch the building shells in a new cultural mantle.
