A stave cooler used for cooling a furnace wall of a metallurgical furnace such as a blast furnace, having a structure in which cooling pipes to cool a metal base are cast on the side opposite the furnace interior side of the metal base and a heat resistant steel plate having openings or a lamination of heat resistant steel plates having openings is cast, in a prescribed thickness, in the furnace interior side surface of the metal base. It is acceptable to form the lamination suitably into a rectangular parallelepiped and cast it, in a plurality, in the furnace interior side of the metal base. The wear rate of the furnace interior side surface of the stave cooler is small, and its structure prevents the heat resistant steel plate(s) from falling out by thermal expansion of the stave cooler proper or wearing locally.