Powered by the rampant Czarna (Black) River
Sielpia lies over a 60-hectare (150-acre) reservoir on the Czarna Konecka River and is the largest tourist site in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. Yet, in the 19th C. the place was known for a completely different function as one of the biggest plants of the Old-Polish Industrial District was functioning in here.
Today, the buildings of the rolling and puddling mills (the plants turning pig iron into wrought iron) have been turned into a residence of the Museum of the Old-Polish Industrial Region. The most valuable showpieces, which one can find in here, are: a huge metal drive-wheel with an 8-metre diameter and some unique devices of different types, like tuning-lathes, planers, presses or 150-year old machine tools. Moreover, there is an original water intake with channels, dykes and floodgates, as well as old production halls, wood-drying sheds, a factory workers’ estate and a porter’s lodge.