The Most Remarkable Factories in the World
5 places in 5 countries · updated 13 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most remarkable factories in the world are Yenidze (Germany), Lingotto (Fiat factory), Turin (Italy) and Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works (Chile). The list covers 5 factories in 5 countries. Chile has the most, with 1. Last updated 13 October 2026.
A factory is built to be efficient, so a beautiful one is a small paradox. The remarkable factories either disguise their work behind a striking image or make the work itself the image: glass walls that flood the shop floor with light, ramps and roofs designed around the movement of goods, or a whole town raised around an industry in the desert.
Our list holds both kinds. Yenidze in Dresden was a cigarette factory dressed as a mosque, with a coloured glass dome and a chimney shaped like a minaret. The Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam, by Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, is a landmark of modern architecture in glass and concrete and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Fiat's Lingotto in Turin put a car test track on its roof, later preserved when Renzo Piano converted the building. Humberstone and Santa Laura in the Atacama are the remains of saltpetre works and their company towns, and near Barcelona Ricardo Bofill turned a former cement factory into his studio and home.
The places here were chosen for how they look and ordered by beauty. Each has its own text, a photograph credited to its author and a point on the map, and the collection also opens country by country on separate pages.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | Country | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yenidze | Factory | Germany | |
| 2 | Lingotto (Fiat factory), Turin | Factory | Italy | |
| 3 | Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works | Factory | Chile | ✓ |
| 4 | Van Nelle Factory | Factory | Kingdom of the Netherlands | ✓ |
| 5 | Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura headquarter building | Factory | Spain |
01 Yenidze
Germany · 1.9 km from Dresden51.059° N 13.727° E
Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt · CC BY-SA 4.0 On the western edge of Dresden's old centre, where the baroque skyline of domes and spires gives way to railway lines and the river, rises what looks at first glance like a mosque: a building of richly tiled walls, oriental windows and a great dome of coloured glass, with a slender minaret beside it. It is in fact a cigarette factory, the Yenidze, built between 1907 and 1909, and it remains one of the most unexpected industrial buildings in Europe.
Did you know? The design is said to have been modelled on the tomb mosque of Emir Khair Bak in Cairo.
02 Lingotto (Fiat factory), Turin
Lingotto
Italy · 4.8 km from Turin45.029° N 7.664° E
FrDr · CC BY-SA 4.0 Most factories hide their logic inside; Lingotto wears it on the outside. Fiat built it in the south of Turin between 1916 and 1923 to designs by Giacomo Mattè-Trucco, and the idea was as simple as it was audacious. Production ran upwards through a long five-storey block of reinforced concrete: raw materials came in at ground level, cars took shape floor by floor, and finished vehicles emerged on the roof, where they were driven straight onto a test track. When it opened it was the largest car factory in the world, and Le Corbusier called it one of the most impressive sights in industry.
Did you know? Lingotto is one of only three buildings ever built with a car track on the roof, and the only one where that track can still be travelled.
03 Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works
Chile · 6.8 km from Pozo Almonte20.208° S 69.794° W
- UNESCO World Heritage
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 In the bone-dry pampa of the Atacama Desert east of Iquique, two abandoned company towns preserve the world of the nitrate boom that made northern Chile one of the richest mining regions on earth. From the late 19th century saltpetre from here was shipped worldwide as fertiliser, and the pampinos, the workers of the nitrate fields, created a distinctive culture around it. Humberstone and Santa Laura were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005, and placed at the same time on the List in Danger because of the fragility of their buildings; restoration allowed their removal from that list in 2019.
Did you know? La Palma, the original name of Humberstone, commemorated the 1858 Battle of La Palma fought near Lima, a reminder that the works began on Peruvian soil.
04 Van Nelle Factory
Kingdom of the Netherlands · 3.1 km from Rotterdam51.923° N 4.434° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
F.Eveleens · CC BY 3.0 On the bank of the Schie on the north-western edge of Rotterdam stands the building that Le Corbusier called the most beautiful spectacle of the modern age. The Van Nelle factory was built between 1925 and 1931 for a company that roasted coffee and processed tea and tobacco, commissioned by its co-owner Cees van der Leeuw. It was designed by Leendert van der Vlugt of the office Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, working with the engineer J.G. Wiebenga, a specialist in reinforced concrete, and it is one of the defining works of the Dutch Nieuwe Bouwen movement. The draughtsman Mart Stam also worked on it and later claimed part of the authorship, a dispute that ended with his leaving the office.
Did you know? A round, fully glazed tearoom known as the Bonbonnière crowns the roof; it was used to receive the company's honoured guests.
05 Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura headquarter building
Spain · 9.5 km from Barcelona41.381° N 2.068° E
pere prlpz · CC BY-SA 3.0 La Fábrica looks like a ruin that has been colonised by a garden: massive concrete silos and cylinders, some cut open, some pierced with tall Gothic-like windows, wrapped in lush gardens that spill over walls and rooftops. Behind this romantic surface is one of the most celebrated acts of adaptive reuse of the 20th century, a disused cement works that the architect Ricardo Bofill turned into the studio of his practice and into his own home.
Did you know? When Bofill acquired the abandoned works, the complex held more than 30 silos, underground galleries and huge machine halls.
More about Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura headquarter building →
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What is the most remarkable factory building in the world?
- On our list, Yenidze (Germany) ranks first, followed by Lingotto (Fiat factory), Turin (Italy) and Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works (Chile).
- Does the Lingotto building really have a racetrack on the roof?
- Yes. Fiat's Lingotto factory in Turin was designed so cars were assembled as they moved up the building, ending at a test track on the roof, which survives after the building's conversion.
- Why is the Van Nelle Factory important?
- Built in Rotterdam for tea, coffee and tobacco processing, it is one of the defining works of modern industrial architecture, with light curtain walls and a concrete frame. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014.
- How many factories are on this list in the world?
- The list covers 5 factories in 5 countries. Chile has the most, with 1.