ETWIE in English

Center for Industrial Heritage in Flanders

ETWIE is the Centre for Industrial Heritage in Flanders (Belgium), based in the Museum of Industry in Ghent.

A network of heritage experts

Thousands of people are involved safeguarding, collecting, researching and enthusiastically sharing industrial heritage with and for the public. ETWIE aims to bring them together, initiate projects with and for them and to encourage, support and help them with advice, through workshops or other tailored services. That's why, every day, the organisation works to expand its extensive network, which focusses on exchanging knowledge and expertise.

That way, tools, instruments, devices and machines, but also applications, knowledge, techniques and artisanal skills are charted, researched and preserved.

International participation

ETWIE is an active member of TICCIH Belgium (The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage). Moreover, ETWIE-coordinator Davy Herremans is national representative at ERIH, the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

Knowledge database

ETWIE's knowledge base has thousands of actors (such as museums, collections, craftsmen, experts, researchers and organisations) and almost ten thousand contributions in the Belgian bibliography industrial heritage and industrial archaeology. The ideal starting point for visitors to explore researched topics and identify relevant literature, find specific collections or get in touch with people with a shared passion.

You can search by keyword, by theme, by municipality,... Our database was highlighted as international good practice by the Berliner Zentrum Industriekultur.

Hazardous Heritage

Mercury thermometers, asbestos hairdryers, arsenic pigments, radium paint… many objects in our museums and collections hide a dangerous side. These items are part of our shared history, but they also contain toxic substances that require special care.

Building on the asbestos project (2020–2022), ETWIE has been developing the Hazardous Heritage Network. Together with museums, scientists, safety experts, and policymakers, we work to raise awareness, share knowledge, and explore tools for handling these objects safely—without losing sight of their cultural value.

Hazardous heritage invites us to look at the shadow side of our material past, and to face it responsibly.

Crafts in focus: lights, camera, action?

The intangible heritage of crafts, machine operation and maintanance and old techniques is often very threatened because the already small pool of experienced people still working on them in our industrialized society is rapidly diminishing. Documenting their techniques and practical knowledge is therefore an improved step in safeguarding this heritage. In this article in MEMORIAMEDIA Review we want to share some do's and don'ts we picked up during an active and hands-on course "Bring your craft or technique into focus".

Master-apprentice projects

In 2018 the (then) Flemish Minister of Culture Sven Gatz initiated a subsidised program for master-apprentice projects. Passing on craftsmanship and skills to safeguard the knowledge and traditions is a very involved and time-consuming process. Grants were launched to give people time and space to, in the course of several months or years, apprentice with a master in a certain trade.

ETWIE was a partner in five approved applications on the transfer of intangible knowledge and heritage of a particular technique, including one on artisanal embroidery and one on embossing.