The Water Forge is a monument of old technology, the only one of its type that has survived to this day. It is the largest and the longest operating hammer in Oliwa. It functioned for about 350 years using the power of the dammed waters of the Oliwa Stream.
From the end of the 12th century, there were about 25 mills at the Oliwa Stream. They ground grain, produced paper, and pierced metals from which blacksmiths made everyday objects. The Water Forge, which has been a branch of the Gdańsk Museum since 2018, was first mentioned in written sources in 1597. It operated until 1948. It is located at ul. Bytowska 1 in the vicinity of the Tricity Landscape Park.
The wooden building consists of two parts erected on both sides of the Oliwa Stream and a covered pier. There are three historic water wheels in the Water Forge. Two, 4 m in diameter, drive quarter-ton hammers, and the third, 3.1 m in diameter, drive the eccentric shears - the guillotine. The construction of the hammers comes from the second half of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century. muzeumgdansk.pl/oddzialy-muzeum/kuznia-wodna
Next to the mill, two inlets, a dam and a "great forging pond" have survived in their former shape. Mill XIII also owned two independent workshops situated by the stream, connected by a wide roof. A bit further there is a recently restored two-story manor house from the end of the 18th century (later rebuilt), which belonged to the owner of the Mill XV.