Bilbao in Spain had been producing iron for centuries, drawing in workers from all over the country. Its rapid industrialisation in the nineteenth century was helped in no little measure by British capital and entrepreneurship. By 1985, it was all over. But the rise, heyday and fall of the Bilbaoan iron industry has been fixed forever in oils, water colours and bronze. In this lecture, he first shows how iron is turned into steel, illustrating the equipment used and explaining the processes involved. He then introduces the artistic works which have recorded the iron and steel industry of Bilbao over the last 150 years and the viewer is thus equipped to identify and understand the activities represented.