It was built between 1890 and 1892 and belonged to the Plater family but was then taken over by the company “Elibor”. The French built a blast furnace which was, at the time, a great rarity. It was fired with charcoal and worked like this till 1940, as the last one in Europe. Thirteen tons of pig iron was produced each day. This method of production ensured high quality iron was used in the production of precision tools and measuring devices. Production at the steelworks was suspended during the war.

After the war, production resumed in part of the plant while the rest, the most valuable as a historic site, was taken over in 1960 by the Museum of Technology in Warsaw. From the former complex nearly all the equipment that was required to operate the steelworks survived. There are, apart from the blast furnace, three small ovens to dry the ore, so called “roasters”, steam boilers, compressors and pumps, air heaters, dust extractors, lifting towers with a water lift to load the ore into the furnace and a mechanical workshop.

There are different permanent exhibits in the historic steelworks which are titled “Equipment of a Foundry Mechanic” and “The Most Popular Cars and Motorcycles of the 20th Century” also an exhibition of metal forming machinery.

Science Museum – Historic Steelworks Division – Chlewiska (woj. Mazowieckie)

www.muzeum-techniki.waw.pl