Eisenhammer

The Eisenhammer Dorfchemnitz is a water-powered hammer mill in the Chemnitzbacher valley with original machinery and equipment that visitors can see today. The site includes the working mill with its mechanisms, an exhibition about mining lamps, and a former chair factory. The facility was founded around 1500 and operated as a hammer mill until it was converted into a museum in 1969. It is one of only four functional water-powered hammer mills remaining in Saxony. The site reflects how people in this region built their livelihoods around metal and wood crafts. The former chair factory beside the mill demonstrates the range of traditional trades that sustained the local community. The mill has used the water of the Chemnitzbach as its power source for centuries, operating a technique more than 500 years old in this region. This method of harnessing water power was essential to the growth of metal crafts in the Ore Mountains