Technical monuments

Museum of Blacksmithing and Locksmithing in Hajnówka

At 1 Lipowa Street in Hajnówka, a town at the gate of the Białowieża Forest, operates the private Museum of Blacksmithing and Locksmithing run by Stanisław Mierzwiński — as the locals say, the last of the Hajnówka blacksmith family. It is a one-man institution, and yet with scholarly supervision of two serious research institutions.

The 1927 forge

The museum has existed since 2003, and its heart is the family forge from 1927. The owner has gathered several hundred exhibits: blacksmith's and locksmith's tools, works of artistic blacksmithing, agricultural machines, models of bloomery furnaces and installations for smelting iron from bog iron ore, as well as prehistoric slags left by ancient furnace sites. An interesting supplement are horseshoes and boots for horses walking in marshy terrain. Scholarly supervision over the collection is provided by the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw and the Museum of Ancient Metallurgy in Pruszków.

Shows in a working forge

In the back of the museum the forge still works — on prior request the owner stages blacksmithing shows, and next to it stands a model of an ancient smelting furnace, on which the iron smelting process can be traced. The museum also organises workshops and demonstration lessons, takes part in archaeological picnics and belongs to the Świętokrzyskie Association of Industrial Heritage.

Practicalities

Address: 1 Lipowa Street, Hajnówka. The site is open all year round, closed on Mondays; admission is paid. It is worth reserving an hour for the visit and then driving to the European bison show reserve in Białowieża (14 km).