Metallurgy in the Jeseníky Mountains

Natural resources in the Jeseníky Mountains enabled the development of metallurgy and the establishment of many settlements. Gold, silver and above all iron ore had to be processed and this was not possible without knowledge of smelting and the construction of ironworks.

The men from Jeseníky have become top experts in this.

Gold melted well, so that as early as the thirteenth century people around Rýmařov were able to smelt gold of almost 100% purity. Iron ore smelters are better known. One of the last original blast furnaces can be seen near the village of Drakov. It is a stone tower that was used to produce iron at the beginning of the 19th century.

Today’s Karlova Studánka was also built for processing iron ore.

efore the spa was established there were smelters and the settlement was called Hubertov. Tourists can still remember this history in the Hubert’s Chapel, which is decorated with a depiction of the work of the smelters. The hot slag from the smelters was even used to heat the water for the new spa.

You can also get acquainted with metallurgy and iron processing at the Scythe Maker’s House in Karlovice. In this area, blast furnaces were burning as early as the 16th century and were only displaced by the modern and large ironworks in Ostrava. Iron was smelted in Vrbno pod Pradědem, nearby Mnichov and other places.

A large Wilhelm’s ironworks was built in Ludvík, whose distinctive brick and stone building can still be seen by the roadside today. The production of pig iron was followed by the processing of this raw material in forges and ironworks. In this field, too, the local people were top in Europe. Already during the Thirty Years’ War, they were able to forge iron of such high quality in Břidličná that the local ironworks supplied 500 muskets a week to the imperial army.

Glass was also melted in Jeseníky. The production of traditional glass is still commemorated by the family glassworks in Mnichov near Vrbno pod Pradědem, where tourists can not only learn about the history but also see how glass cups are made.