Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony – the Fagus Factory in Alfeld, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Fagus Factory in Alfeld an der Leine is a shoe-last factory regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of modern industrial architecture. The building was designed by the young architect Walter Gropius together with Adolf Meyer, anticipating design principles that would later become hallmarks of the Bauhaus, founded years afterward. The building is distinguished by its largely glazed curtain wall facade, which dissolves the load-bearing function of the walls and floods the interior with daylight, a construction that was revolutionary for its time. The factory still produces shoe lasts today, making it one of the few early industrial monuments to have remained continuously in operation.

The Fagus Factory is considered a forerunner of classical modernism and of the architectural language later developed at the Bauhaus, which united function, clarity, and industrial production. Because of its outstanding significance for the development of modern architecture, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. The building is still regarded today as a starting point for 20th-century architectural modernism. With the 2030 commemorative 2-euro coin, Lower Saxony honors this important UNESCO World Heritage Site of modern architecture.