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ERIH Board meeting in Katowice/Poland
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Review of the ERIH Annual Conference 2012
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The glow of the blast furnaces. European Theme Route Iron & Steel
Two steps are needed to make iron and steel – the key materials of the industrial era - from iron ore. First, the ore has to be smelted in the blast furnace to produce pig iron, which is then refined in the fire to produce wrought iron or steel. Both steps are dependent on the type of fuel used. Hard coal is not suitable for producing iron because its trace elements, above all sulphur, can damage the metal. For this reason charcoal was used in furnaces and forges until the start of the 18th century when a shortage of firewood made it very expensive.
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Remscheid | German Museum of Tools |
| Cleffstraße 2-6 | 42855 Remscheid | Germany | |
| A converted office building, a disused factory, an opulently furnished historic merchant’s house and a spacious modern new building. From the outside alone it is evident that the Remscheid German To... more >> |
SK |
Rožòava | Mining Museum [BAHM] Rožòava |
| Safarikova 31 | 048 01 Rožòava | Slovakia | |
| Rožòava is a mining town at the centre of an extensive ironmaking region in eastern Slovakia. Its mining museum, whose earliest collections date from 1902, has extensive displays, including some loc... more >> |
PL |
Ruda Maleniecka | Rolling Mill Museum |
| Maleniec 54 | 26-242 Ruda Maleniecka | Poland | |
| The ironworks at Maleniec, 30 km north-west of Kielce, is one of several state ventures of the early 19th century in Central Poland that are conserved and open to the public. The works has its origins... more >> |
FIN |
Ruotsinpyhtää | Strömfors Ironworks Museum |
| Ruukintie 11AKirkonkyla | 7970 Ruotsinpyhtää | Finland | |
| The Stromfors ironworks at Ruotsinpyhtaa near the south coast of Finland was founded in the late 1690s, at first producing bar iron from Swedish pig iron. Subsequently a blast furnace was built. The p... more >> |
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Saint Hubert | Fourneau Saint Michel. Musee du fer et de la metallurgie ancienne |
| 6870 Saint Hubert | Belgium | |
| The St Michael blast furnace, in the forest of St Hubert, was built in 1771 by Dom Nicolas Spirlet, the last abbot of the nearby monastery, worked until 1942, and was designated an historical monument... more >> |
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Schmalkalden | Neue Hütte Technical Museum |
| Gothaer Strasse | 98574 Schmalkalden | Germany | |
| Ironworking was important in Thuringia by the 14th century and by the 16th century the town of Schmalkalden, 40 km south-east of Eisenach, was famous for the manufacture of cutlery.
The principal ... more >> |
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Seydisfjordur | East Iceland Technical Museum |
| Hafnargötu 44 | 710 Seydisfjordur | Iceland | |
| The town of Seydisfjordur (until recently spelt Seydhisfjordur) lies 400 km north-east of Reykjavik. The technical museum that illustrates many aspects of the history of the region has three principal... more >> |
GB |
Sheffield | Kelham Island Museum |
| Alma Street | S3 8RY Sheffield | Great Britain | |
| Knives, saws, scythes, files, razor blades, cutlery. No doubt about it, Sheffield is the English equivalent of Solingen. What began with small workshops in the 16th century quickly developed into the ... more >> |
PL |
Sielpia k. Koñskich | Ironworks Museum |
| 26-200 Sielpia k. Koñskich | Poland | |
| The principal museum of the Staropolski Industrial Region, where Stanislaw Staszic(1755-1826), Director of the Division of Industry and Mining of the Congress Kingdom of Poland between 1816 and 1824, ... more >> |
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Solingen | LVR Industrial Museum Hendrichs Drop Forge |
| Merscheider Str. 289 - 297 | 42699 Solingen | Germany | |
| A museum that is still in production? A factory full of the noise of hammering and hissing, with a huge drop hammer beating glowing steel into shape? This is all part of the everyday life at the Hendr... more >> |
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Solingen | German Museum of Blades |
| Klostenhof 4 | 42653 Solingen | Germany | |
| ME FECIT SOLINGEN –Solingen made me. These three words were engraved into sword blades all over the world. In the Middle Ages Solingen began to make a reputation for itself as a “weapons factoryâ€... more >> |
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St. Ingbert | Old Smelt |
| 66386 St. Ingbert | Germany | |
| The "Old Smelt" is a historic ensemble of factory buildings, housing estates and parks, most of which have been preserved in their original state. The ironworks was set up in 1732. Production reached ... more >> |
PL |
Starachowice | Jana Pazdura Nature and Technological Museum |
| 1 Wielkopiecowa | 27–200 Starachowice | Poland | |
| Starachowice, 32 km north-east of Kielce, was one of the key sites in the development in the early 19th century of the Starapolski Industrial Region by Stanislaw Staszic(1755-1826).
Charcoal-fired... more >> |
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Stockholm | Museum of Science and Technology |
| Museivagen 7 | 115 93 Stockholm | Sweden | |
| Sweden’s national museum of science and technology was founded in 1924 under the patronage of several of the country’s leading learned societies and industrial organisations. It is located in a bu... more >> |
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Stolberg | Zinkhütter Hof |
| Cockerillstraße 90 | 52222 Stolberg | Germany | |
| The decisive moment has arrived. The children gaze wide-eyed at the shape. Will it be a success? Yes, the young visitors have just cast a brass coin with the help of one of the museum workers, and aft... more >> |
