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The
Vitkovice steel works were founded in 1828 by the Archduke Rudolf von
Österreich called the Rudolf Ironworks (Rudolfshütte).The first coke fired
blast furnace was commissioned in 1836.
In 1843 the Viennese banker Salomon Mayer
Rothschild bought the site.
A Bessemer steel making shop was installed in
1864. From 1874 on the company was called Vitkovice Mining & Iron
Corporation (Witkowitzer Bergbau- und Hüttengewerkschaft).
In 1909 a new melt shop
including Talbot and open hearth furnaces was built. The company developed
into a leading suplier of heavy machinery and steel constructions in
Europe.
During the German occupation the works became part of the Reichswerke
Hermann Göring.
In 1945 the site was nationalised by the Czechoslowakian government and
now called Vítkovicke zelezarny Klement Gottwald (VZKG).
In 1967 the Talbot furnaces were shut down and replaced with tandem
furnaces.The 3,5 meter heavy plate mill was launched in 1972.
The first bottom blowing oxygen converter (72 tons) was commissioned in
1982 and a second vessel with combined blowing followed in 1991. The
Tandem furnaces were shut down in 1993. The last blast furnace was closed
down in 1998 and in 2005 the steel making and
rolling activities were sold to the Russian Evraz group.
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