Kurtz Ersa Historic Center
Kurtz Ersa historic center celebrates its first year in existence
At the end of June 2014, Kurtz Ersa opened its historic center at the very site where it all began – it includes the manor house, the museum and the Eisenhammer iron hammer works. Since then, thousands of visitors have come to Hasloch to experience the eventful history of Kurtz Ersa and engineering as it has been lived out since 1779. A review on the occasion of the first anniversary which was celebrated on 5 July.
The concept of partition into industrial monument, museum and event venue also housing the company archives and the Anna Göbel and Otto Kurtz Stiftung foundation has proven successful: As a hub of communications, the historic center shows the origins of the Kurtz Ersa Group while at the same time pointing the way to the future – for customers, staff, business partners and visitors. The combination of Hammermuseum and iron hammer works has been very well received: Numerous groups headed to Hasloch to call into the Eisenhammer and experience the over 235-year-old history of the company and, of course, the demonstration at the legendary up-thrower hammer.
Whether vintage car aficionados, bike enthusiasts, fans of that famous mouse – the WDR Maus, TV teams, school classes or current and former Kurtz Ersa staff. Time and again, three-figure visitor numbers were recorded: For example, in September around 520 cyclists accompanied Landrat (District Administrator) Thomas Schiebel on his “Landrad(t)s-Tour”, over 600 came along to the Maus “open-the-door day” on 3 October, 2015 on the Day of German Unity.
The historic center has also proven itself as a professional function centre, for instance for the VDMA Event Week, in which Kurtz Ersa presented itself as an attractive employer in the region, or for Ersa’s International Sales Meeting – just two examples of many. As well as these events, a number of Hammer Evenings were held in autumn 2015, inviting participants along to a cosy after-work get-together in the manor house. The first year has already shown the historic center to be the perfect location for a wide range of events – we may well find things happen here in the future that still appear unimaginable today.