To appreciate the significant architectural details, it’s important to see the building from the outside and the inside. Even though the factory is operational, there are tours through all areas including past the production lines. There is also an excellent museum over several floors of the old warehouse that tells the story of the building and the business.

The tour that I take is led by one of the workers here – like most of them are. This means that not only do you get a great explanation of the building and its features, there’s also the opportunity to get a fascinating insight into the life of the workers and how it has changed over the past century.

The Fagus Factory is just a short ten minute walk from Alfeld train station and, in fact, arriving by train from the north gives an appropriate preview to the site. The factory is built along the railway line for the easy transportation of goods and the architects placed more emphasis on the trackside part of the building because they considered it would be seen by more people.