The Farga Palau de Ripoll (Ripoll Palace Forge) was set up as an iron forge in the 17th century and was in operation for five centuries before finally closing down in 1978. It is in a block of apartments that were and still are used as accommodation. The forge occupies the ground floor with its combined water and air pump, drop hammers, coal cellar, furnace and forge. Separate from the workshop are the waterwheel, the water channel and the pond used to store water from the River Freser, turn the wheel and generate the constant air flow which created the “Catalan Forge” system.

In addition to being the only forge in Catalonia and possibly in the whole of Spain which continued to produce beaten copper as late as the second half of the 20th century, what makes the Farga Palau really exceptional are its two drop hammers with their metal bearings, elm wood handles and steel mallets.


Once or twice a month the furnace was lit and scrap copper was smelted. In each casting bars were produced that were subsequently reheated in the forge to make them ductile, and the pieces were beaten into the desired shape using mallets. If making, say, a large pot, it may well have been necessary to carry out the whole process of reheating the metal, cooling it in water and then hammering it into shape some twenty times.

In 1997 the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya (mNACTEC –National Science and Technology Museum of Catalonia) bought the ground floor occupied by the forge from Pere Palau and made it part of the mNACTEC Regional System.

The forge has now been restored and visitors can see both the facility and how it works.