Lövstabruk - the audio file texted
In the forests of northern Uppland lies Lövstabruk of Österlövsta parish in Olands Hundred. Lövstabruk was once Sweden’s largest iron works and one of the leading works in Europe.
The iron working history of Lövstbruk goes back to the small forges which belonged to the surrounding farms. These small private works are first described in 1578 and lie further upstream. The crown started its own ironworks in 1596. From 1626/1627 the crown’s works were rented by the Dutch merchants Willem de Besche and Louis de Geer. In 1640/1641 Louis de Geer became the sole owner of Lövstabruk. The works would come to be owned by the de Geer family for a total of 13 generations. This was the beginning of 200 years of success for Swedish ironworking. Louis de Geer recruited smiths and blast furnace constructors from his origins in Wallonia what is now southern Belgium.
After Louis de Geer passed away in 1652 his son Emanuel de Geer took over the works and during his time the works were planned in the layout which can still be seen to this day. During the Russian pillaging of 1719 Lövstabruk was plundered and burnt so that only a few buildings escaped unharmed. Under the leadership of Charles de Geer the works were restored to order with the help of a large loan. The works retained the same layout with workers cottages along the main street, the warehouse, mills, smithies, formans residence, the offices among other buildings. In the middle of the works a new church was built and across the lake a new manor house was built over the remains of the old one. Later in the 1700s Jean Eric Rehn redesigned the interior as well as the famous library and taxidermy pavilion. The church contains the famous Cahman organ named after the maker Johan Niclas Cahman. The organ is one of the best preserved Baroque organs and is still in regular use for mass and concerts.
The main product produced in Lövstabruk was wrought iron rods of a length of 2m and 1 dm wide. The rod iron was wrought by the Walloon smiths who migrated from Belgium, Luxembourg and France during the first half of the 1600s. The iron ore was brought from Dannemora mine roughly 30km south of Lövstabruk and was of a very high quality. The ore was transported during the winter by horse drawn sledges. The rod iron was then shipped from a warehouse in Ängskär (Hållnäs) via the customs house in Öregrund to Stockholm and then on to the global market, mostly to England and the steel yards in Sheffield. In 1917 Gimo-Österby AB bought the industrial buildings in Lövstabruk and continued working until the eventual closure in 1926. That was the end of the iron industry in Lövstbruk after 400 years. Sadly today there are few remains left of the industrial buildings, the last hammer forge was torn down soon after 1926.
Parts the works remained under ownership of the de Geer family until 1986 when the trust Stiftelsen Leufst was created. Since 1997 several buildings have been managed by the National Property Board (Statens fastighetsverket). The smithies residences along the main street are rented out as private homes. Lövstbruk is a designated monument.