The Fagus Factory was built by the architect and founder of the Bauhaus Movement Walter Gropius in 1911 and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. It is regarded worldwide as the original Modernist building.
The architecture of the Fagus Factory takes into account for the first time the need for light, air and clarity. Its glass and steel construction and its unsupported fully glazed corners give the building a weightless elegance, unusual for factories of that time. With its outstanding steel and glass architecture, the architect succeeded in giving a mid-sized company a completely new and non-traditional image. Fagus shoe lasts have been produced in this living monument for over 100 years. This production process has now been enhanced by the corporate divisions associated with GreCon Electronics and Grecon Dimter Machine Construction.
Visitors can discover exciting facts and figures about this living monument at the Fagus-Gropius Exhibition in the former Fagus shoe last factory warehouse. The hands-on exhibition covering some 3,000 square metres provides information about the history of the company, the architecture of the building, the restoration of the factory and shoe fashion trends over the last century. Guided tours of the factory offer interesting insights into actual production behind the scenes of the World Heritage Site. The Fagus Gallery hosts various special exhibitions and the Fagus-Gropius Café in the former machine plant encourages visitors to relax and admire their surroundings. Other national and international World Heritage Sites can be discovered in the UNESCO Visitor Centre in the historical ‘Chips House”.
