Heinrichshütte

Wurzbach is a small town in Thuringia, surrounded by the forests of the Sormitztal, some 45 km north-west of Hof. In the time of the German Empire it was part of the principality of Reuss-Gera. Heinrichshütte, an ironworks dating from the eighteenth century, is one of the few places in Europe where the making of castings from iron is still demonstrated. The works, one of several in the region, was established by Graf (Prince) Heinrich of Reuss-Ebersdorf in 1729, and experienced many changes of ownership before it became a museum in 1982.  An overshot waterwheel more than 260 years old powers the bellows of a cupola, set in a casting hall where the gantry crane still operates. The museum opens daily but the foundry operates one day a week. Visitors are able to see liquid iron from the cupola poured into moulds. There are also displays of foundry products, particularly historic stoves and fire plates, in an exhibition hall. The ironworks also houses a very large steam engine that once drove the 250 m. long rolling mill at the nearby Maximilianshütte. It is a four-cylinder twin tandem reversing engine, capable of generating 15,000 h.p., supplied in 1928 by Sackun Kisselbach of Düsseldorf.