ABSTRACT
Ironbridge Gorge Museum, the first winner of EMYA in 1977, presents itself as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution focused on the famous bridge on the Severn River, the first built in cast iron in human history. But when the museum was opened, Ironbridge was an experiment: to preserve a bridge still in use and to create a museum that encompassed a large area that included several important remains of the first industrial era and that had a sustainable, consumer-focused business model. It is not by chance that here the notion of ‘industrial monuments’ found its more visible expression at a time when the related term ‘industrial archaeology’ was almost unknown in a large part of Europe. For all these aspects this museum was very appropriate at the very beginning of EMYA: a different kind of heritage, a new way of interpreting it, a challenge in active preservation practices and a new approach to museum financing.
