El Pobal Ironworks, living history of Bizkaia

El Pobal Ironworks, a museum where you can learn and live the history of Bizkaia in an active way.

The Pobal forge has been contributing its grain of sand to the culture, tradition and history of Bizkaia for more than 500 years. Until 1965 it actively collaborated through production and since 2004 it has been reminding Biscayans and tourists of the history of this territory.

Map of the surroundings of the forge el pobal

From www.TurismoVasco.com we believe that this forge is essential to understand the way of life of our ancestors and the whole province of Bizkaia, however, its location and ignorance, make this jewel of Basque history goes unnoticed among tourists visiting our land.

El Pobal Ironworks

We do not need reasons to visit this engineering work, but we are going to give them to you, because we do not want you to leave Bizkaia without taking with you this small memory of our history, do you want to know what our reasons are?

–The environment: A natural environment typical of our land, full of life, life offered by the Barbadun river and its waters as it passes through the forge Pobal. This environment makes our visit even more attractive.

Bamboo canes in the surroundings of the El Pobal forge.

–History: The mining tradition of the Basque Country and Bizkaia is well known. Bizkaia and its capital, Bilbao, were formerly recognized for their great industry. The Pobal ironworks will help us to fit the pieces of the puzzle of the history of Bizkaia around this industry.

El Pobal Iron and Steel Works

–Price: We know that comparisons are odious but on this occasion we must make an exception to say that the price of the visit and demonstration of the Pobal forge is reduced compared to other museums that offer the same services.

-Theteam of El Pobal forge: From the beginning of our visit at the reception of the forge until the end of our visit we felt how each of the staff members of this museum were at our side to clarify any kind of doubt, a gesture that is certainly appreciated.

–Visit and demonstration: A visit and demonstration that makes us participate, an active, entertaining and educational visit. We recommend the visit to young and old, to the little ones to learn about the history and development of Bizkaia and to the older ones to miss those past times that, as Jorge Manrique said, “any time in the past was better”.

Turismovasco in the fuel room of El Pobal forge.

During the visit, we were accompanied at all times by the guide of the facilities, a guide that as we have already mentioned, made us participate with questions and demonstrations. We emphasize the demonstrations over the rest of the things of the visit, since these are the ones that give life to the old tools that once again are put back into operation thanks to the forge El Pobal. Do you want to know what demonstrations we are talking about? If the answer is yes, you already have a new plan for when you are in Bizkaia, cheer up!

A unique souvenir: Remember that you can take home a nail like the one shown in the photos, a handmade nail, very different from the nails created by the assembly lines of large multinationals that we know today. A unique souvenir, with a lot of character and at a reasonable price.

Handmade nails created by the forge el pobal

El Pobal forge nails

As you can see, the visit to the forge Pobal is a luxury with a reduced price, we recommend you to take advantage of the trip to visit very interesting places like the Loizaga tower or the castle of Muñatones, two places full of history, history that should not fall into oblivion.

Turismovasco.com on the red carpet of the loizaga tower

As we are sure that you are going to follow our advice to visit the forge Pobal, we indicate that the visit with demonstration is only on Saturdays at 12 noon, with exceptions for large groups where another type of schedule could be specified, this visit lasts about 1 hour. If you have any doubts you can consult the Bizkaia Provincial Council website