Resumen de Theorization and management of industrial heritage in Spain: contradictions and achievements of a current topic

M. Pilar Biel Ibáñez, Valerie Magar Meurs

• This article focuses on Françoise Choay’s reflections on industrial heritage and, based on these and on her definition of a historical monument, it proposes an analysis of the reception of the concept of industrial monuments in Spain. Choay’s reflections were written in the 1980s, the time when industrial archaeology studies began. The text reviews the most important scientific and bibliographical events that took place at that time and contributed to the establishment of the discipline. These first studies created a theoretical corpus, still in use today, which has served as a basis for the subsequent definition of industrial heritage. It also reflects on the development of the process of valuation of industrial assets through their protection (heritage laws) and their conservation (restoration-reuse).