This abandoned cement factory is a great example of unique industrial archeology. For a long time, it was one of the largest and most modern cement factories in all of Europe.
The complex is unique in its kind as it was built with the almost exclusive use of the same materials produced on the site; natural white and gray cement.
At the end of the 19th-century, the construction of the factory began. It was built on the site of a former paper mill. Ideally located along a river. The owner had greats plans with it as the world would found out later. New additions to the factory followed one another through the following decades until it reached its current structural form around the beginning of WWI.
Numerous innovative cement applications were used during the construction of the factory. The owner who also was the engineering mastermind behind the build became well known for his innovative work with the material. He also constructed his own villa with these techniques. Another architectural achievement.
The cement factory is undoubtedly an icon of industrialization that took place in the 20th-century. It affected the whole area. At its peak, the factory employed over 400 people, mostly men.
Sadly it was decommissioned in the seventies due to the rise of artificial cement and new production technologies. This artificial cement was cheaper to produce. The factory was the last one in the country that kept on producing natural cement until it’s closure in the late sixties.
