On the role of metal casting in the development of civilization

„This monograph has the form of an album, in which the text serves only as a necessary guide. It is a harmonious record of the human history from 5 500 years BC up to the present day. It is also the history of humanity seen through the prism of the ability to create castings, useful but at the same time graciously shaped, and artistic castings which prove the never ending need of man to commune with beauty. The Author shows us that casting as a manifestation of rational human activity carried out by the man for thousands of years is what satisfies our increasingly sophisticated needs in the vast range of areas of the life of each of us. The monograph is the expression of admiration for the creative skills of man, at the source of which there is the intelligence and sensitivity to beauty. Indirectly, it is also a proof of humility, which we must invariably feel thinking of the methods used by the foundrymen who lived thousands of years ago – the metal casting processes which could produce objects of desired shapes and properties, and the basic principles of which are still valid and used today in modern foundries.
The Reader of this monograph will agree with Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero), the Roman lawyer, orator and philosopher, that “Historia testis temporum, lux veritatis, vita memoriae, magistra vitae, nuntia vetustatis”, which can be translated into “History is the witness of the times, the light of truth, the life of the past, a teacher of life and preacher of tradition.”

Prof. Andrzej Baliński, DSc., PhD., Eng.

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