UZINA DE FIER DIN BOCȘA 1860–1896: RECONSTITUIRI
IRON AND STEEL PLANT IN BOCȘA, 1860–1896: RESTITUTIONS

Summary/Abstract: Since 1719 the steel plant was a constant presence in the economic activity in Bocșa, from the moment of inauguration of one of the first modern metallurgic centers in the present territory of our country, opened there under the new set then Habsburg authority. The steel plant supplied the whole empire; it had to start the long way concerning the industrialization in the Banat; it also constituted the starting point of industrial history of Reșița, a branch of Bocșa plant initially. With the StEG acquisition of Bocșa domain in 1855, together with other domains in Caraș, the iron and steel industry there knew a series of unprecedented changes and developments, with deep traces in the town history, architecture, and town planning, and even in its geography, especially in the case of Bocșa Montană. The first plant, built by StEG in 1859–1860 was a relative small edifice, almost identical with the plant of Dognecea from the technological, architectural and dimensional point of view, both of them with two furnaces of 10–12m in height, supplied through a tower, and mechanically ventilated, by water or steam force as the case might have been, also with air preheaters and systems to capture the gas furnace. Even if the plant of Dognecea, together with other small plants and furnaces went down the next decade, the plant of Bocșa played as a remarkable exception: in spite of its low production, especially when compared with the production of Reșița plants, Bocșa benefitted of investments in architecture and technological systems, a very offering situation today for any researcher. I have succeeded to connect architectural chronology to the theoretical data of the partly preserved territory of this plant, by correlating information from previous works, archivistic data, and measurements and investigation in situ, using also innovative digital techniques; so, I have generated a rolling digital reconstitution aiming to resurrect the local atmosphere and put in light the evolution and architectural stages of this building.

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