Smithy from Weinbach

Built: circa 1717
Dismantled: 1974
Reassembled: 1974/75

The upper floor of this one-and-a-half-storey timber-frame house juts out over the base considerably. It was used as a blacksmith’s and farrier’s forge until 1939. The last master blacksmith was Heinrich Prätorius, whose family had provided the local blacksmith to Weinbach for over 100 years until he was drafted into army service in 1939. In its original location, the smithy was conveniently situated on the thoroughfare from Weilburg to Wetzlar. A wheelwright’s was close by. The two workshops cooperated to make carts in Weinbach for many years, since the tasks of the blacksmith and the wainwright were often directly related to each other.

In the Open Air Museum, the blacksmith’s was reconstructed as an operational village smithy from the years around 1780, complete with forge, anvil and workbench. All metal devices and fittings necessary to country life and work can be made here.

The Weinbach smithy today hosts demonstrations of the craft.