Engelsberg Ironworks

UNESCO World Heritage Site (1993): The Best Preserved Ironworks Of Sweden'S Great Iron Age Of The 17th 18th Centuries, With Its Blast Furnace, Forge, Manor House And Workers' Cottages · Angelsberg, Vastmanland County

Engelsberg Ironworks (Engelsbergs bruk) is a complete iron-making village on the shore of Lake Amanningen in Bergslagen, the old mining country of central Sweden. In the 17th and 18th centuries Sweden was one of the world's leading iron exporters, and bruk like this one - a blast furnace, a forge, a manor for the owner and rows of cottages for the workers - turned local ore and forest charcoal into bar iron shipped across Europe. Engelsberg grew under the 18th-century owner Per Larsson Sohlberg, who is said to have built much of what stands today, and its furnace is usually said to have worked until around 1919. UNESCO listed it in 1993 as the best-preserved example of its kind. Visitors come for the guided tour of the furnace house, the forge, the manor with its English-style park and the workers' houses, and for the island refinery of Oljeon nearby. The honest caveat: it is small and quiet, open inside only on summer guided tours, and it rewards people who enjoy industrial history far more than those looking for a grand sight.

Engelsberg bruk, Angelsberg, on Lake Amanningen in Fagersta Municipality, Angelsberg, Vastmanland County, Sweden

The grounds, lakeside paths and the outside of the buildings can usually be walked at any time of year, free. The interiors - the blast furnace house, the forge and the manor rooms - open only on guided tours, which run in summer, roughly June to August, most often daily in July and on fewer days in June and August; outside that season there are normally no public tours, only pre-booked group visits. Confirm the current season and tour times before you travel, because they change from year to year. Tours can be full in July, so book ahead through the site's own booking or the Fagersta tourist office where offered. Getting there: the site is at Angelsberg, about 15 km south of Fagersta and roughly 60 km north-west of Vasteras. Regional trains on the Vasteras-Fagersta line are usually said to stop at Angelsberg station, a walk of roughly 1-2 km from the works - confirm with the regional operator VL. By car it is about 45-60 minutes from Vasteras, with parking by the works.

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