Watermills and windmills as a meeting place

Řehořová, Zuzana

There were many attempts in the past to establish a holiday of Czech mills, which could be related to the holiday of St. John of Nepomuk or even lesser-known saints such as St. Senan or St. Vinok. Therefore, our colleagues Rudolf Šimek (for watermills) and Jan Doubek (for windmills) agreed to organize a joint event for the anniversary of the creation of the legendary mill emblem on 13th May 1116. They also invited archivist and molinologist Jan Škoda to cooperate and approached the owners of several mills to see if they would support the event. There was a wave of very positive reactions, so they decided to organize a big event called Mill Open Day, which will take place on Saturday 11th May this year.

They were inspired by the mill open days which are organized in surrounding European countries, but also elsewhere in the world. For example, in Austria last year the of Mill Open Day was held for the first time and 61 mills took part in it. The purpose of the Czech event is to make people aware of the fact that watermills and windmills are one of the most important inventions of mankind and to open to the public many normally inaccessible buildings with their often very interesting stories. As the organizers emphasize, it will be up to the property owners how they want to present their mill. As part of the event, the mills that are open to public can, for example, reduce the entrance fee, diversify the tour, or show otherwise inaccessible areas. However, the mills that are normally closed or rarely accessible will be the most interesting for the visitors.

During March, Rudolf Šimek and Jan Doubek gathered interested water and wind millers and created a filter in the databases
www.vodnimlyny.cz and www.povetrnik.cz, which now contains mills that will participate in the event. In addition to the above-mentioned websites, the event is also promoted on the Milujeme vodní mlýny (We love watermills) Facebook group, where approximately three thousand members are already discussing the mills. Both organizers of the event have a common motto: “Let’s make the mills a place to meet and talk, just as they were in the old days.”