Spain · Forge craft; Iron working; Basque heritage
Ferrería Vasca
The forging of iron in the Basque hydraulic forge (ferrería) tradition — the industrial craft that made the Basque Country the primary iron production center of Spain and one of the most important in medieval Europe. The Basque ferrería uses water-powered trip hammers (mazo) to forge iron from ore in a continuous process that the errementari (Basque blacksmith) manages by reading the iron's behavior under the trip hammer rather than a hand hammer. The ferrería tradition is the technical ancestor of the Basque steel industry and of the modern Spanish navy, which was built from Basque iron.
Risk level: Endangered · Not listed; Basque ferrería heritage is a protected industrial heritage site in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia
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