· Web: www.fundacioportdesagunt.com Photo: Mariela Apollonio
Blast Furnace No.2
Email: info@fundacioportdesagunt.com
Blast Furnace No.2
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Avenida Hornos Altos, 86. 46520 Puerto de Sagunto
The FCV Patrimonio Industrial y Memoria Obrera de Puerto de Sagunto is a non-profit cultural institution with the mission of studying, preserving and disseminating knowledge, memories, sounds, material objects, images and any other element that shaped the iron and steel origin activities taking place in Sagunto in the 20th century. Furthermore, we work to promote the protection, conservation and social projection of the Industrial Heritage of the Valencian Community.
Blast Furnace No. 2 is the most significant element of the industrial heritage of Puerto de Sagunto. This heritage was founded by the activity of a coalmining-metallurgical industry which starting in 1900 determined the urban and social fabric of this new settlement. Terms like mineral, iron, slag, rolling, furnaces or “reconversión” (industrial restructuring) marked the history of this company town, thereby defining the municipality’s idiosyncrasy and development, that was truncated in October 1984 with the closure of the company Altos Hornos del Mediterráneo. Today, Blast Furnace No. 2 has turned into a contemporary witness of this industrial past and collective memory. Blast Furnace No. 2 is 64.20 metres high and from its original structure, we can still see the preserved foundations, hearth, cooling boxes, footbridges leading to the mouth of the throat, ring pipe of hot air, tuyeres and waste gas vent for evacuating fumes and gases. The skip hoist and the bridge cranes were reconstructed in the restoration. The construction of Blast Furnace No. 2 began in 1922, and it rendered its first pig iron casting on 26 June 1926. Its functioning was interrupted several times due to historical and entrepreneurial circumstances. The economic crisis of 1929 led to its shutdown from 1930 to 1941. In 1961 it was demolished and rebuilt from the foundations, and it came back into operation in 1963. Its productive life ended on 24 March 1984 with the last casting and its definite shutdown, being the only one of the three blast furnaces that survived the iron and steel factory dismantling and demolition.