At the St. Antony-Hütte (Ironworks) a media station invites the visitor to charge a historic blast furnace and to learn more about the early birthplaces of the iron industry in Europe. The interactive station in five languages enables visitors to operate a charcoal or coke furnace virtually and in the role of furnace foreman to smelt iron. In this way the visitor experiences just how much skill is required for a perfect runoff.
The media station is the result of an international co-operation between various industrial museums at early birthplaces of the iron industry. Within the scope of the EU project "early birthplaces", the LVR-Industriemuseum in co-operation with partner museums in Great Britain, France, Spain and Poland designed a website which takes visitors on a virtual journey back to the beginnings of the European iron industry. Under early-birthplaces.eu, anyone interested can find more information about the different modes of operation and construction of the early blast furnaces and follow their development between 1750 and 1850 in European comparison