Kick-off: Project “KLANG2”
On Tuesday, March 25, 2025, the Kick-off Meeting of the “KLANG2: Mines, Furnaces, Forges, Swords” project will take place in Feltre, at the Lead Partner’s headquarters.
Funded under the second call of the Interreg VI-A Italy-Austria 2021-2027 program, KLANG2 continues and completes the work of the previous project, “KLANG. Swords of Lions and Eagles”, which was carried out as part of the 2014-2020 programming period. The primary goal of KLANG2 is to further investigate the production of bladed weapons in the Alpine region, focusing particularly on the manufacturing of swords in Feltrino, the extraction of iron ore from mines in Tyrol, Upper Belluno, and South Tyrol, and the research and analysis of the sites where smelting furnaces were located, with a specific emphasis on the period between the Late Middle Ages and the 17th century.
The project also aims to finalize the tourist-cultural itinerary initiated with the first phase, linking the three main Italian areas involved in sword production: Belluno (Veneto), Maniago (Friuli Venezia Giulia), and Bolzano (South Tyrol). These regions were historically closely connected with Tyrol, both commercially and socially, as skilled workers from Tyrol operated in the mines, and iron, along with finished products, was transported and traded. Archival research, studies on production sites, and scientific material analyses will serve as the foundation of the itinerary. The project seeks to establish an interdisciplinary route that merges history and cultural heritage with science and technology, thereby enhancing the historical and economic heritage of the Alpine region.
