Guia Junior (15) 996190693 The Real Fábrica de Ferro São João de Ipanema, or Fundição Ipanema, was a steel mill that operated between 1810 and 1926 at Fazenda Ipanema, located in the district of Bacaetava, municipality of Iperó, in the interior of the state of São Paulo. D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, minister of D. João VI, commissioned Varnhagen and Martim Francisco de Andrada e Silva to design a modern Iron Factory that would take advantage of Araçoiaba ore. The project was completed in July 1810, budgeted at 60 contos de réis. The proposal emphasized the need to bring in European technicians experienced in steelmaking. The company was created through Royal Charter dated December 4, 1810, as a mixed capital company, with thirteen shares belonging to the Portuguese Crown and 47 to private shareholders from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia.[3] To implement it, a team of Swedish technicians was brought to the region, hired in December 1809, led by Carl Gustav Hedberg. In addition to the presence of magnetite deposits, the abundance of wood that would feed the ovens and the water collected from the Ipanema River, a driving force par excellence until the mid-19th century, were decisive in choosing the location. In 1815, Hedberg was replaced by the German Ludwig Wilhelm Varnhagen, in charge of building the factory's blast furnaces, which opened in 1818. Two smelting campaigns were carried out, one lasting 3 months and the other lasting seven months. In 1820, José Bonifácio visited the Factory and wrote a Memoir, criticizing the functional architecture of the blast furnaces.[4] From the blast furnaces of the Real Fábrica de Ferro de Ipanema under the direction of João Bloem came many of the items necessary for Brazil in the 19th century, from iron pans to machinery for sugar and coffee mills, railings, ladders, lamps, etc., with items that won awards at national and international fairs at the time. The labor of specialized public slaves was used at the Ipanema Factory.[5] These slaves belonged to the State since 1760, when the Jesuits' assets were confiscated by the Portuguese Crown. Slave labor at the Factory was present in practically all stages of production, carrying out the most diverse activities.[6] The Factory experienced a period of growth and investment under the direction of Colonel Mursa, between 1865 and 1890. With the reforms introduced in the internal profiles of the blast furnaces, the daily production of pig iron doubled. The Austrian workers he brought in in 1878 made it possible to introduce a new iron refining process, the Styrian process, which was more efficient. One of the techniques that Mursa used to guarantee economic support for the enterprise was the distribution of collections of objects linked to iron manufacturing in Ipanema. A box of these objects can be seen at the Itu Republican Museum[7] and another is part of the collection at the National Museum[8] in Rio de Janeiro. Images duly authorized through ICMBio process nº 02072.000002/2021-13. Acknowledgments: Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation - IPANEMA NATIONAL FOREST/ICMBio Information: https://www.icmbio.gov.br/flonaipanema/ ICMBio - Ipanema National Forest - Flona Ipanema