Workers' Assembly Halls of the World
Welcome to this story map where you can explore workers' assembly spaces around the world
Why this Story Map?
This story map was made as part of a UNESCO World Heritage transnational serial nomination project.
Welcome to a map showing workers’ assembly halls and workers’ gathering spaces from around the world. Click through the different countries and see the different buildings and places where workers have met and continue to do so.
This map has been developed as part of a research project to locate and document buildings of the labour movement worldwide. It is designed to create an overview of where these gathering spaces used by the working-class are located and were located around the world. The map provides accurate or approximate location depending on what information is available, as well as photos and descriptions. Some buildings have been demolished and others still stand. There are also some where the current state is unknown. Built to be a living storymap, we will continuously add buildings and correct information as we learn more. Feel free to engage and share knowledge with us . See contact information below.
What is a Workers' Assembly Hall
The Workers Museum (Denmark)
Workers’ assembly halls were built or used for the purpose of organising workers, as platforms for establishing trade unions and being a part of the daily lives of the working class. They are multifunctional, serving as venues for cultural, educational, social and political activities, including parties, debates, preparation for demonstrations, enlightenment in the form of reading societies, libraries, debate clubs, collections for charity and events for the poor or unemployed, lessons in various skills and opportunity to share meals. They often housed offices for unions and workers’ clubs and associations as well as a main hall for political meetings, annual assemblies and large events. They were used in various ways by men, women and children.
The term workers’ assembly hall is an umbrella term covering buildings of the labour movement that have been called by many names, some of which are Maison du Peuple, Casa de Popolo, Casa del Pueblo, Ons Huis, Volkshuis, People’s House, Folkets Hus, Gewerkschaftshaus, Arbeiterheim, Union Hall, Labor Lyceum, Labor Temple, Labour Union Hall, People’s Palace, Volksgebouw and Narodny Dom.
Explore by Theme
Below you can explore the many different buildings and assembly places used by workers to gather, to organise in unions and to offer education for all and social activities on a day-to-day basis for the working class. You can explore whether buildings still exist and how they were and are used. You can sort them by year of construction, whether they are legally protected by listing or whether they have all the attributes needed for the transnational serial nomination , a project that this StoryMap is part of. Click on a point on the map and get more information about that specific building. Scroll down to explore the different themes.
What was their function?
Many workers’ assembly halls are multifunctional with political, educational, social and cultural functions including trade union offices, conference halls for meetings and celebrations. Mass-organisation was at the heart of all activity and often men, women and children used them. Other buildings had more limited functions, only political meetings, education, recreational activities, or purely as administrative buildings.
When were the buildings founded?
The transnational serial nomination of workers’ assembly halls is mainly concerned with buildings constructed between 1850 and 1951. This is because these buildings all around the world share a lot of similarities in how they were funded and how they were used as well as how their state is today. Of course, buildings from before 1850 are equally important as they serve as predecessors to this building phenomenon just as those built after 1951 carry on the practise in a modern context that is to be celebrated as its own tradition, e.g. many post-colonial countries created a new tradition of building for the labour movement, and new buildings keep being constructed. Those from before 1850 and after 1951 are not considered for this nomination project but are important in their own right.
Do the buildings exist or not?
A lot of buildings have demolished but a lot still exist even if their original purpose has changed. Drag the slider to see which buildings exist and which sadly, do not any longer.
Who used the buildings?
Buildings were often used by multiple generations, and the workers and their families. However, some buildings were used only by one group of trades or one union. Other building were used by all workers and therefore, all unions and trades. Some buildings were built for different trades but used only by one ethnic group, often immigrants, e.g. the Ukrainian Labour Hall in Winnipeg, Canada.
Location
Most workers' assembly halls and trade union buildings were located close by workers' housing or work. Therefore, most are found in towns, cities and industrial centres. In some countries where industries were situated in forests or the country side, the halls were of course built here. Where factories were often located in existing cities, rural areas, where mines were established, would soon turn into industrial centres and townscapes.
UNESCO Nomination
A transnational serial nomination of workers' assembly halls is being developed at the moment for the UNESCO World Heritage List. This Story Map presents all the buildings found as part of the research. Also those that do not live up to the criteria to participate in the nomination because they still have value as places that shaped the global or local labour movements through organisation of workers through unions, political meetings, cultural enlightenment and the fight for improved workers' rights.
Protection or Conservation Status
Some of these buildings and places are national monuments, listed or have other local or national conservation and preservation protection. This information is not always easy to find, so if you have any information on any of the buildings on the map, please contact the StoryMap team.
Explore the Buildings
On this map you can find buildings that have served as workers assembly halls, used by workers to host meetings, establish unions, offer social, educational and cultural activities, and generally advance the interests of the working class. They were and are places of gathering for workers. On this map are buildings that still exist and some that do not anymore. Here, you can learn about buildings from a variety of labour movements.
Scroll through the buildings on the right. Click on an image or on the map to get more information about the history of the building or location.
A UNESCO Nomination Project
The map has been developed as part of a transnational serial nomination project for the UNESCO World Heritage List. The nomination is concerned with buildings used by the democratic labour movement, although this StoryMap also includes buildings that do not fit the criteria for the nomination.
Information for this storymap is based on desk-based research, a previously made storymap and crowd sourcing of information through a collection campaign, encouraging the public to help us locate workers’ assembly halls around the world. Therefore some buildings do not have an exact location, but instead only a city. Should you have more information about any building, please feel free to contact us. If you know of a building that should go on the map, you can write an email or fill in the form below. Thank you for getting involved!
Workers' Assembly Places
Read more about the nomination: www.arbejdermuseet.dk/uk/unesco
Contact
Please contact us if you have questions about the nomination project, the StoryMap or if you have any information about workers’ assembly halls or places not already on this map. We are always looking to expand the map and our knowledge about these buildings of the labour movement.
