One of the foundations of Sweden's prosperity in the "Age of Greatness" was iron.
Miraculously, one of the artifacts of this industry has been preserved, the ironworks in the village of Engelsberg. Fortunately, it's quite easy to get here by train.

Earlier, in the 18th century, there were several factories here, as the location is convenient: iron ore, rivers and forest are nearby. But only this factory has survived, and that is due to the efforts of the owners, who decided to preserve it as a heritage. To this day, the factory and all the surrounding land belong to the Johnson family, one of the richest in Sweden. Therefore, there are some restrictions on the territory, since it is private property.
Most tourists limit themselves to inspecting the building from the outside, but I booked a place on an guided tour, and it turned out that I was the only person, so I was given a private tour. The guide from local museum not only showed me the furnaces and water wheels, but also told in detail how the factory functioned. However, I didn't understand much, I'm a typical humanitarian, and all these processes of iron smelting remind me of magic.
From what I understood, the ore was delivered from the surrounding area, first by sledges, then a narrow gauge was laid. The ore was first weighed, then ground into small pieces, which were thrown into the blast furnace from above. Water wheels were used to grind ore, and the furnace was first heated with coal (the surrounding forest was used), and already at the end of the 19th century, producers switched to steam.
There is a whole complex of buildings - workers' cottages, an office building, a stable, a forge (also possible to visit wuth tour), and the owner's manor house. Indeed, owners tried very hard to save this plant.

Visited August 2024