Bruket;Hälleforsnäs

THE FOUNDRY MUSEUM IN HÄLLEFORSNÄS

A museum for all the senses

As part of the Hälleforsnäs project and with close cooperation with Hälleforsnäs Industrier AB we have opened a foundry museum in Hälleforsnäs. The museum is closely tied to the local community and will probably become an interesting museum for the whole of Sweden. The newly built association "Hälleforsnäs foundry museum" develops and runs the museum.

Hälleforsnäs foundry museum can be found within the foundry area, a unique and well organised area from the 1930's. The area is not much older than that most visitor recognise the style of the area from their own industrial areas. This recognition makes it easier for the older visitors to tell their children and grandchildren that it really wasn't that long ago.

Parts of the employees' buildings are already used by the museum and discussions are going on for the museum to use other parts. In the museum you can find a great deal of items from the foundry, photographs, documents from the foundry and other written material which will be the basis for the museum. "Småskrifter om Hälleforsnäs" (small pamphlets about Hälleforsnäs) is one example, and the inhabitants of Hälleforsnäs are another very important source of information without which the museum could not exist.

In the future the meaning is that we will show all the different steps in the production of the different products we make in Hälleforsnäs, and that we will show designing, lab work and even how the offices worked. Such areas are often missing in a museum! Another part of the museum is the history of iron foundries from the Bronze Age until today. Another important part is the community within the gates of the foundry, unions,culture,schools, and the women,children and aged who lived there.

Theoreticially you can never understand how heavy a ladle with molten iron is,and how much skill is involved to be able to use it. you have to try yourself. In old models visitors can meet the difficulties that occur for a founder and the possibilities that he had. One of the main chances of making the museum a success is its contact with the foundry and this is secured, being as the museum is within the foundry area.

The museum can also be a base for those wishing to sell their own products which are produced thanks to the foundry and its owners. A living foundry, a living product and a living museum that is our aim and our wish!

The foundry museum can and should be a museum for all the senses. In the same way that the employees use all their senses to do a good job, the visitors shall have the same chance to use hearing, sight, feeling, smell and taste to live the life of a worker at the foundry.

We need help from everybody to realise this dream. We are going to need people who can build, form, clean, tell stories, cook sausages, guide, identify pictures, keep the books, write and lots lots more.... Everybody can find something to do! Large or small, everything is important for the museum.

The foundry museum is a living part of Hälleforsnäs. A museum for the inhabitants of Hälleforsnäs.

The basis for the museum is a non-profit making association "Hälleforsnäs Gjuterimuseum". Through the association we organise help both practically and theoretically, the association is a forum for planning and information.

The museum and its development is already interesting for many, not just the inhabitants of Hälleforsnäs but also other associations and istitutions. Amongst the latter are The Foundry Historical Society (who have lent part of thier collection to Hälleforsnäs), The county museum in S”dermanland, ( who helped with stocktaking and documentation), the homestead museum for Mellösa/Hälleforsnäs, Hälleforsnäs documentation group, Södermanland's county council, The National Culture Council, and the Workers Museum in Norrköping.

The museum should be support for the foundry: Here we will show the knowledge and tradition! The museum should keep the handicraft traditions alive. the museum should support the community in Hälleforsnäs: We have something to tell. Here we want to live - and want to build up and expand. The museum should concern everybody in Hälleforsnäs, but hopefully bring tourists from far and wide. There is a good chance that Hälleforsnäs and Hälleforsnäs foundry museum can be a tourist goal, which in the future can give more work.

A LITTLE HISTORY

The history of foundries can be traced back to about 3000 B.C. But it was first about 500B.C., in China that they could come up into the right temperatures that they were able to form iron perfectly. In Sweden it first came in the 11th century. At the digs in Birka (north of Stockholm) thousands of formed bronze items have been found. And these have given us important clues about the lives of people and trade during the Birka period (800-900 A.D.).
In 1659 a Walloon called Abine Noy came to the area around Hälleforsnäs, here he found wood and water power, and it was not too far to iron ore. Abine Noy recieved privileges to set up a foundry for production of cannons and other wrought iron products. Through the centuries the foundry grew, the cannon production was ended and production went over to household products, machine parts and parts to building. In 1877 Hellefors was connected to N„s by a railway line and became Hellefors-Näs.
Until the end of the 19th century the foundry was a handicraft industry, but during the 20th century it became more and more mechanised. Today it is a highly mechanised industry and more or less automatic, with robots and all the other things you expect to find in a modern factory. In Hälleforsnäs plumbing has been an important part of production, but today it is the Swedish railway and car producers who are the main customers for Hälleforsnäs. During the last decade many foundries have been forced to close, and even for Hälleforsnäs this period has been difficult. In 1991 a local group took over the foundry through a group called "Hälleforsnäs Industier" (amongst these are ex-bandy pro's from Hälleforsnäs' golden years). After 334 years they are still producing at the foundry in Hälleforsnäs. The future is uncertain. But both the foundry's owners and employees are certain about a positive future.

MUSEUM, CAFÉ, SHOPPING

The foundry museum in Hälleforsnäs is open after agreement. Contact Barbro Sköldebrand, telephone 0157- 41520. During the summer the museum is open on a regular basis, but ring first to be sure you can come in! For groups the museum can fix a guided tour around the foundry, and can even open the café! At the museum you can buy present from the foundry's production, and that which is not available can be ordered. Small pamphlets can be bought at the museum or can be ordered from Martin Östberg, Kärrgatan 12, 640 30 Hälleforsnäs. Telephone 0157-40349. (sorry but these are only available in Swedish).

Become a member!
During the summer of 1993 a group of people interested in the foundrys history established " The Hälleforsnäs Gjuterimuseum association". The association shall " develope and run the museum in Hälleforsnäs in the aim of showing foundry workers' history, processes, and developement". The members of the board are union members, and people with economic and museum qualifications. There are no other museums about working life like the one in Hälleforsnäs is, and could be! The assignment is big and the possibilities are many. We need all the workpower we can get.