An old locomotive shed, which has been left to fall into disrepair for years, is set to become a meeting place: a meeting, information and documentation centre (BIDZ) dedicated to the mining, industrial and transport history of the Mansfeld region is being established at Gerbstedt railway station. An important first step towards this was taken by the project partners Freunde der Halle-Hettstedter Eisenbahn e. V. and KulturErbe Mansfeld-Saaletal e. V. on 21 August 2026: During a NEB_ONTOUR event, they received funding approval letters from State Secretary for Culture Dr Sebastian Putz for a total of 1.17 million euros from the ‘European Just Transition Fund’ (JTF), a European Union fund. The funds will be used to safeguard the building, which has been a listed monument since 2008 – a first, crucial step towards the future BIDZ.
For the participants in NEB_ONTOUR – including regional and local politicians, cooperation partners and the NEB_FAMILY – the first order of business was “All aboard, please!”: Before the official handover, there was a trip “Am Eisernen Band“ was on the programme. Founded in 2008, this network project has been offering special trips on seven historic railway lines between Halle (Saale) and the Harz since 2022. From Gerbstedt station, the journey continued in a vintage bus operated by the Wernigerode Castle Railway to Kupferkammerhütte station near Hettstedt, Germany’s oldest operational narrow-gauge railway station. From there, the Mansfeld Mining Railway continued on to Klostermansfeld/Benndorf station. It was here that the funding approval was handed over, amidst great public interest.
Through the BIDZ, the partners aim to create a anchor point and a hub linking the towns and stakeholders along the ‘Iron Belt’. Historic sites, engineering monuments and the stories of the people behind them are to be preserved and brought to the fore as part of a shared regional identity. State Secretary for Culture Putz praised the funding as a commitment to preserving the region’s industrial heritage: “The historic railway lines tell the stories of the people and their work that have shaped these regions over generations. It is our shared responsibility to preserve this history and pass it on to future generations.”
The locomotive shed at Gerbstedt station is currently still a ‘lost place’. Thanks to this funding, it will now be possible to breathe new life into the 12,000 square metres comprising the building and the site – entirely in keeping with the spirit of the New European Bauhaus: BEAUTIFUL. SUSTAINABLE. TOGETHER.
Background: Applied NEB_PROJECTS related to industrial heritage
As part of the state initiative ‘Saxony-Anhalt – Together for a New European Bauhaus (NEB) #NeueBauhäusler’, a second call for proposals was launched in April 2025 – for innovative, sustainable, beautiful and inclusive projects linked to industrial heritage. The focus was on the Central German region in transition #moderndenken, comprising the districts of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Burgenlandkreis, Mansfeld-Südharz, Saalekreis and the city of Halle (Saale). A total of 10 million euros from the Just Transition Fund is available to fund applied projects relating to industrial heritage; the projects will be funded at 100 per cent.
Mehr Infos zum Projekthintergrund finden Sie hier:
