Description:
The Restoration of the Number 2 Blast Furnace in Sagunto (Valencia, Spain) has been the recovery of the most significant remains of what was the major iron and steelwork industry of the Mediterranean basin, which worked from 1917 to 1984. It’s located in Puerto de Sagunto, the town near the sea that grew with the iron industry. Besides its powerful imagery and commemorative nature, its educational potential was a determining factor in preventing its demolition when the iron industry of Sagunto was definitively closed. In 1992, the Valencia Community Foundation for Sagunto’s Industrial Heritage proposed the restoration of the Blast Furnace for it to become the centrepiece of the Industrial Archaeology Museum of Sagunto. The work that has been undertaken (completed in three phases: 1998-2000, 2007 and 2009-2011) consist In the structural consolidation of the furnace, the restoration of its image and its functional fitting out, this being of an essentially educational nature, by making it visitable. This article includes the vicissitudes of this restoration work since the authors took charge of it in 1996 to the present day when this work is completed after being paralyzed for more than ten years and having reached its goals.