Point of interest
Decorated Lower Silesian anvils
Dates and stamped patterns survive on the blacksmith’s working tools.
Content language
The exhibition presents decorated and dated Lower Silesian anvils, together with ornamental ironwork. The museum’s collection contains 26 such anvils; this is the size of the collection, rather than the number on display. These working tools retain evidence of attention to their appearance. Their decoration was made by stamping, and many bear dates. Hornless anvils predominate in the collection. They lack the familiar projecting horn: this is a difference in the shape of the tool itself, rather than an added decorative feature.
The anvil occupied the centre of a traditional forge. Beside the hearth stood leather bellows that supplied air to the fire. Other tools were hung on walls or stored on tables and in cupboards. The forge’s equipment combined heating metal with working it afterwards. Blacksmiths made agricultural tools, fittings for wooden implements and wagons, hinges and locks. They also produced iron crosses, grilles and fencing. Richly decorated wagon fittings feature in the exhibition. Traditional blacksmithing began to decline in the late nineteenth century, leaving both tools and a wide variety of finished metal objects.
For children
An anvil is a heavy tool used in working metal. The museum owns 26 decorated Lower Silesian anvils and displays examples from this collection. Designs were stamped into them, and many carry dates.
Most of these anvils lack the long projecting horn. In an old forge, the anvil stood in the centre. Bellows beside the hearth supplied air to the fire. Blacksmiths made tools, hinges, locks, grilles and wagon fittings. The fittings could be richly decorated. A blacksmith’s work was needed both on the farm and in furnishing a home.
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