Hammerhütte and Brausenstein blast furnace

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Brausenstein blast furnace (2019)

The Hammerhütte Brausenstein was an iron hammer located on the Biela in Saxon Switzerland . There is evidence that iron ore was processed here between 1410 and the first half of the 18th century . The blast furnace , built in 1693, is the only surviving material evidence of the production technology of hammer metallurgy in the entire area of ​​the so-called "Pirnisch Eisen".

history

The blast furnace, then known as the “high furnace”, is located between rocks on the Biela (2006)

The Hammerhütte Brausenstein was one of a total of nine iron hammers that processed the magnetic iron ore extracted from the nearby Berggießhübel using the water power of the Biela . The Bielatal was a preferred site for smelting because of the high and relatively even water level. The ore was brought in via a network of iron roads.

The hammer Brausenstein was first mentioned in 1410 in a loan letter as hamer in the Brussensteyn . At that time it was already owned by the successor, so that the complex was probably laid out in the 14th century. With the establishment of the iron chamber in Pirna , Brausenstein was one of the so-called "office hammers" from 1472, which had to design their production in terms of quantity and range according to the specifications of the electoral iron administrator. Its production specifications for Brausenstein amounted to 27 tons of iron per year around 1548. For the same year the Pirnaer Amtserbbuch names only one possessed (with real estate resident) man for Brausenstein, the hammer master Peter Umblauff. He also had a few “workers' houses” for his ironworkers. The small settlement Brausenstein, located on the western plateau above the Bielatal, later developed from the factory settlement.

In 1589 the chronicler Petrus Albinus praised in his Meißnische Land- und Berg-Chronica the iron products made in the Pirna hinterland (including cannon balls, cast iron stove plates, simmering pans) as very high quality under the term "Pirnisch Eisen". However, it is not known whether Brausenstein already had a blast furnace at that time .

Since at least 1621 the Hammerhütte has been owned by the Münch family, who also operated the Oberhütte (Bielatal) and Kleppisch ( Hellendorf ) facilities. Under Christian Friedrich Münch, an approx. 8 m high blast furnace was built in Brausenstein in 1693, which in 1704 delivered part of the so-called large ball delivery to the Dresden armory . The date “1700” was carved into the furnace itself. Just a few years later, the blast furnace operation was discontinued in connection with the concept of forest sustainability initiated by Hans Carl von Carlowitz in 1713 and the electoral wood regulations issued in 1731. The years 1734, 1736 and 1750 are mentioned in various sources as the time of the cessation of operations.

The plant then fell into disrepair and the blast furnace was only a ruin at the beginning of the 19th century. All other facilities belonging to the furnace (casting house, slag mill, coal house, weighing house), however, were not preserved, and the actual hammer mill no longer exists. However, the loading ramp, the Hammergraben, the waterwheel gradient and the connection path to the factory settlement of the ironworkers (Brausenstein village) have been partially preserved.

Reconstruction of the blast furnace

After the shutdown, the blast furnace was left to decay. It was not until the State Association of Saxon Homeland Security that the building was preserved in the 20th century. However, the outbreak of World War II and the subsequent post-war period prevented the implementation of planned measures. After the preservation of the last blast furnace in the region was acutely endangered by the illegal extraction of building materials, the Königsteiner local history researcher Harald Schurz was able to find the Pirna museum director Karl Grumpelt and the geologist Hans Prescher (from 1972 director of the Museum of Mineralogy and Geology Dresden and chairman) at the end of the 1960s of the working group for research into Saxon Switzerland in the Geographical Society of the GDR) as a supporter of the preservation of the Brausenstein blast furnace. After the enactment of the Monument Preservation Act (1975), planning for the reconstruction of the Brausenstein blast furnace began under the direction of the general director of the Riesa steelworks . The work was carried out by a three-man construction brigade from 1978 onwards. The reconstructed blast furnace was inaugurated on June 21, 1980. Information boards in front of the blast furnace give an overview of the history of the iron and steel industry at the Brausenstein site.

In 2018, the furnace was renovated again, the masonry was freshly grouted and a large crack was repaired.

meaning

The Brausenstein blast furnace, built in 1693, is the only surviving material evidence of the production technology of hammer smelting in the entire area of ​​the so-called "Pirnisch Eisen" (iron mining and processing area in the hinterland of Pirna). It is one of the few preserved historical blast furnaces in the New Federal States . Comparable systems are only available at the locations Schmalzgrube (preserved blast furnace from 1659), Peitz (preserved blast furnace from 1809), Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz (preserved blast furnace from 1820/22) and Schmalkalden (Neue Hütte) (preserved blast furnace from 1835).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gunter H. Schmidt: Vom Pirnischen Eisen. From the history of the old hammers and huts in the Pirna area. Pirna 1984, p. 11
  2. ↑ Alfred Meiche : Historical-topographical description of the Pirna administration. Verlag Buchdruckerei von Baensch-Stiftung, Dresden 1927, p. 18
  3. ↑ a b Gunther H. Schmidt: Memories of the Pirnische Eisen. in: Sächsische Heimatblätter , issue 1/1986, pp. 37–42, here: p. 37
  4. ^ Brausenstein in the Digital Historical Directory of Saxony
  5. ↑ Petrus Albinus : Meißnische Land- und Berg-Chronica 1589 , XVI. Title, p. 134 .
  6. ^ Walter Hentschel : Kursächsischer Eisenkunstguss. Research on Saxon Art History Vol. 4, Jess Verlag, Dresden 1955, p. 172
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Schmidt, Wilfried Theile: Monuments of the history of production and transport, part 1. VEB Verlag für Bauwesen, Berlin 1989, p. 66
  8. ^ Gunter H. Schmidt: Vom Pirnischen Eisen. From the history of the old hammers and huts in the Pirna area. Pirna 1984, p. 82
  9. ^ Technical monument saved , Sächsische Zeitung (Pirna edition) of September 14, 2018

literature

  • Mario Bauch: The high oven in Bielatal was torn from decay. In: Sächsische Zeitung (Pirna edition) of December 11, 2008
  • Alfred Meiche: Historical-topographical description of the Pirna administration. Dresden 1927. ( digitized version )
  • Wolfgang Schmidt, Wilfried Theile: Monuments of the history of production and transport, part 1. VEB Verlag für Bauwesen, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-345-00312-0

Web links

Commons : Hammerhütte and Brausenstein blast furnace  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 51 ′ 29.5 ″  N , 14 ° 2 ′ 27.3 ″  E