Iron Karst: 1,200 Years of Ironmaking in the Moravian Karst

The Moravian Karst owes its wealth not to farming but to iron. As early as the end of the 8th century, Slavic ironworkers arrived and smelted iron from local ore in the woods between Rudice, Habrůvka and Olomučany. It is the largest archaeologically explored centre of iron production among the Western Slavs. From the 16th century, forge hammers (hamry) worked in the valleys, blast furnaces followed in the 17th and 18th centuries, and in the 19th century the Salm ironworks in Blansko took over. Ore was mined until 1893. Today, the best place to see it all is the Old Furnace near Adamov (Stará huť u Adamova), with its 10-metre-high František furnace (entry 60 Kč, or about €2.40 — an approximate conversion, as exchange rates fluctuate).

QUICK LINKS ⚒️ Slavic ironworkers · 💧 Forge hammers and blast furnaces · 🏭 The Salm ironworks · ⛏️ The end of mining · 👣 Where to see it · ❓ FAQ

Beneath the forests of the Rudice Plateau lie small deposits of iron ore, limonite, which were easy to dig out. All around were woods for charcoal and streams that could drive machinery. The karst had everything an ironworker needed, and people knew it as far back as 2,500 years ago.

The Earliest Traces: Býčí skála

The oldest evidence of ironworking in the karst dates from the late Hallstatt period. In the 1870s, the Blansko physician Jindřich Wankel discovered the famous “princely burial” of the 5th century BC in the entrance hall of the Býčí skála Cave (Bull Rock Cave), along with blacksmith’s tools. For a long time this led people to conclude that a smithy had stood here. Today, archaeologists see the whole find as more likely a collection of offerings deposited in the cave. You can read the full story in our article Hidden Stories of the Moravian Karst.

Slavic Ironworkers (8th–11th Centuries)

Towards the end of the 8th century, ironworkers arrived in the central part of the karst to mine ore and produce iron. In doing so they founded a district which archaeologists regard as the largest known and explored centre of iron production in the territory of the Western Slavs.

Who discovered it. The first to study the slag in the woods was Jindřich Wankel in the 1870s. Between Rudice and Habrůvka he found heaps of slag and fragments of crucibles. His work was taken up by the Rudice schoolteacher Hugo Václav Sáňka, who around 1915 described workshops in the forest locations of Nad kapličkou, V pivovarce, Žlíbek, Žegrov and Padouchov. The archaeologist J. Skutil also found two silver denarii of Prince Otto I the Handsome (1061–1087) near the furnaces. Systematic research was led from the 1960s by V. A. Suchopová, who uncovered 16 ironworking workshops.

What was found out. The furnaces were only ever in use for short periods before the forest reclaimed them. As a result they survived almost intact, and the development of Slavic ironmaking can be traced across a full four centuries:

• Turn of the 8th and 9th centuries: the two oldest workshops by the stream below the U Kukačky spring, beneath the forest track from Olomučany to Nový hrad. The furnaces stood in rows, with seven in one ironworks and eight in the other. These were technologically advanced ground furnaces of the so-called Želechovice type.
• 9th century, Great Moravia: the workshops in the karst are the only 9th-century ironworks in the Czech Republic where archaeologists have uncovered furnaces, ten in total. At the U Obrázku site, two loaf-shaped iron blooms (semi-finished iron) were found. The iron probably travelled from here to southern Moravia, most likely via the Staré zámky hillfort near Líšeň.
• After the fall of Great Moravia, ironmaking ceased for more than half a century.
• End of the 10th and 11th centuries: production resumed, but with simpler furnaces and without any link to the Great Moravian tradition. In Olomučany, in what is now Růžová Street, five furnaces were found along with a crudely forged brick-shaped piece of iron weighing 3.15 kg.

Forge Hammers and Blast Furnaces (16th–19th Centuries)

After several centuries of silence, ironmaking returned, this time powered by water. A hamr (forge hammer) was a workshop where a water wheel drove the bellows and a heavy hammer.

• 1506: the first documented forge on the former Nový hrad estate, the so-called Althamr in the Křtiny Stream valley. Two charters from that year permit the repair of a damaged forge, which means it was already working in the 15th century. More in our article The Křtiny Valley.
• 1560s: the Nový hamr (New Forge) on the site of present-day Adamov, originally called Hamry.
• 1632: a blast furnace is documented in Adamov, already producing liquid pig iron. From 1680 there were two.
• Before the end of 1746: a blast furnace was built in the Josefov Valley, today’s Old Furnace (Stará huť). From the 1840s it produced mainly cast iron.
• 1877: the furnace at Josefov closed. Charcoal had become expensive, the technology was outdated and an economic crisis had struck. Production moved to Adamov, where an engineering works was established, later to become Adast.

The Salm Ironworks in Blansko

In Blansko, the ironmaking tradition began in 1702, when the Gellhorn family built a forge and furnace on the Punkva river. The real boom, however, came with the noble Salm family, who acquired the estate in 1766. Hugo František Salm took an interest in the natural sciences and applied the knowledge gained on his travels around Europe to the ironworks. He is the same Salm under whom the exploration of the Rudice Sinkhole began in 1802.

In the 1820s a rolling mill and an engineering shop were added, and the products of the Salm ironworks earned acclaim at the Vienna exhibition of 1835. The Mariánská huť in the Punkva Valley followed, then the Hugonova huť near Jedovnice, the Starohraběcí huť (1847) and, last of all, in 1855, the Klamova huť near Svitavy. From 1 January 1849, the Brno–Česká Třebová railway ran through Blansko.

The Blansko foundry became famous for its art castings: statues, fountains and cast architectural elements, including the colonnade in Karlovy Vary. Later, the firms of Breitfeld and Daněk, and from 1927 the Kolben-Daněk group, made mainly water turbines in Blansko, which were exported all over the world.

The End of Mining and What Remains

In the second half of the 18th century and in the 19th century, ore was also mined underground, from shafts between 20 and 140 metres deep. Mining ended in 1893 because the deposits were exhausted. Ironworks with charcoal-fired blast furnaces could not compete with the large ironworks beside the coalfields, such as Vítkovice or Třinec.

Yet iron changed the landscape of the karst for good. Rudice and Habrůvka were founded on the plateau precisely because of the ore. In the woods you can still find slag, collapsed shafts and farmers’ lime kilns. Thanks to its exceptional evidence of early ironmaking, the area is included in the international European Route of Iron project.

Where to See It

The Old Furnace near Adamov (František Furnace). A National Cultural Monument in the Josefov Valley between Adamov and Křtiny. Its dominant feature is the 10-metre-high charcoal-fired František furnace. The former pattern shop houses an exhibition on ironmaking, run by the Technical Museum in Brno.

Parking by the furnace is limited, especially during events. Every spring, volunteers from the František society hold experimental smelts in replicas of the old furnaces. More about the valley in our article The Josefov Valley and Býčí skála.

Blansko Region Museum. The Blansko Art Castings exhibition at Blansko Chateau. Opening hours and prices are in our article The Moravian Karst in the Rain.

The Rudice Sinkhole. Right next to the swallow hole, slag from the old furnace lies on the slope (Rudice Sinkhole).

The Iron Trail educational path (about 30 km) links sites connected with ironmaking. It is best suited to cycling; more in our article The Moravian Karst by Bike.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why was iron smelted in the Moravian Karst? The Rudice Plateau held small, easily accessible deposits of iron ore, with woodland all around for charcoal and streams to drive the forge hammers.

How old is ironmaking in the Moravian Karst? Slavic ironworks are documented from the end of the 8th century, and the earliest traces of ironworking date from the Hallstatt period (5th century BC).

When did iron ore mining end? In 1893, when the deposits were exhausted. The blast furnace at the Old Furnace near Adamov had already gone out in 1877.

How much does it cost to enter the Old Furnace near Adamov? Standard admission is 60 Kč, concessions 30 Kč. Payment is by cash only. It is open from April to October.

Part of the series Hidden Stories of the Moravian Karst. Information verified as of 9 October 2026. Sources: Merta, J.: Železářství Moravského krasu, Ochrana přírody 61, 2006, no. 8, pp. 247–249; AOPK ČR, Rozbory CHKO Moravský kras (2017), chap. 2.7 Historie osídlení a průmyslu; Technical Museum in Brno: Old Furnace near Adamov.

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