THE SCULPTURE “WORKER – BLACKSMITH”

This sculpture depicts a blacksmith in a traditional long apron (protection from spilling sparks, scale and slag) and his tools a sledgehammer and an anvil.
Foundry and blacksmithing lived through dramatic process of evolution within the millennia of their history and in the era of industrial revolution of the second half of the XIX Century made an enormous leap. Rapidly growing industry; fast expanding railway net; developing shipbuilding and machine tool making industries required an enormous amount of metal. In 1864 engineer-metallurgist P.E.Martin invented a furnace for smelting steel demanded in machine building. Invention of steam sledgehammer caused a genuine revolution in blacksmithing. Metallurgy has quickly become one of the key industries. And the Metallurgist also became a symbol of new industrial era.