Heritage itineraries and the ‘rest state’ at Europe’s Cold War-era Ground-launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) sites

Abstract

Abstract Cold War legacies pose significant challenges for heritage management and interpretation at landscape scale. This paper explores an area where management and interpretation overlap, in terms of how postcolonial attitudes usually require something to be done with these sites. We argue that this need not be the case and that a ‘rest state’ can be an important stage in a site’s lifecycle. We focus in particular on United States Ground-launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) sites, of which six were built across Europe. All six are reminiscent of more conventional industrial sites co-located with their occupational communities yet they also exist as homes from home on gifted foreign soil typically occupying large areas. By examining these comparable sites at different stages of their heritage itineraries, we test the validity of some new interpretive and heritage management concepts including, if not leading towards, a rest state.