The Ravne Ironworks developed from the Count von Thurn Steelworks, whose beginnings date to the seventeenth century. The modernization of Yugoslavia after World War II, carried out as part of the country’s “capital construction” – as the state-funded building of the economic infrastructure was called during the first five-year plan – made it possible to introduce new technologies and products, especially high-quality and noble varieties of steel, as well as steel for the construction industry, the paper-, wood-, and metal-processing industries, the automotive industry, and others. The largest output was achieved in 1987, with 237,000 tonnes being produced.
In basic industrial manufacturing, creativity is expressed, above all, in the quality of the end product, which was arrived at through different phases of the work process, from the preparation of the feedstock, to melting, rolling, and forging, to thermal and mechanical processing – all of this depended more on people than on machinery. But at the Ravne Ironworks, creativity was also expressed in the company’s visual identity, in its product advertising (despite the nature of heavy industry), and in its support for the area’s urbanization and the education and cultural creativity of its employees. The ironworks was a supporter of the international sculpture symposium Forma Viva, an art colony for painters, the newsletter The Koroška Ironworker (Koroški fužinar), and many choral, musical, and theatrical associations. The company encouraged creativity outside the work place and facilitated access to contemporary cultural activities. In this way, it played a formative role both in the social context and in people’s private lives.
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10:00-18:00
