Morávkův vodní mlýn Water mill

Welcome to Opatovice nad Labem. Right now you are facing a remarkable historical monument, which is Morávkův vodní mlýn, also known as the Lower Mill. You are located in the northeast part of the village and under your feet or just next to you flows the water of the Opatovická Canal, which is inherent to this place. Look around you and try to see the unique atmosphere this place has been radiating for centuries. You can see in front of you the classic building of this mill that breathes history and secrets of past times upon you.

Let's look into the deeper past to understand how important this place was. The original mill, which used to stand here, was probably part of the already completely extinct Opatovice monastery. The remains of this famous monastery were still found in the eighteenth century, indicating how deeply this territory is linked to the church and building history of our nation. The importance of this place is also underlined by the fact that already in 16 hundred and fifty-six the local mill was mentioned in its rare records by Czech historian and priest Bohuslav Balbín. This alone shows that the mill was not an ordinary building, but an important point in the landscape that attracted the attention of the scholars already in the Baroque period.

Now pay attention to the construction itself that you are facing. This current form of the mill dates back to the year eighteen hundred and four, when a new classical building was built on the site of the former monastery buildings. It is a single-storey object on a rectangular plan. Look at its peaceful facade and see the proportions of this building, which has been designed with the typical building moderation of its epoch. We do not have the names of specific builders or architects, but the craftsmanship of creators from the early nineteenth century is evident at every step. Try to stop for a moment, look at the details of the facade and imagine what it was like when the craftsmen were finishing the latest modifications to this classic mansion.

With this mill are also connected important historical figures and people who shaped his fates. The already mentioned Bohuslav Balbín was not only a passive observer, but left us with written testimonies of the strange phenomena here. Two centuries later, in the year eighteen hundred forty, the mill was proven to belong to the family of the regional MEP František Morávka. Imagine the excitement that existed here in the nineteenth century, when the mill served its economic purpose and when people connected with high policy and everyday hard work came through. Industrial development has not shunned this place either, as evidenced by the 19-hundred and thirty record. At that time, the modern Francis turbine was successfully operated in the building with a respectable flow rate of two whole eight hundred fifteen thousand cubic metres per second, indicating a gradual modernization and transition to more efficient use of the water power of the Opatowice Canal.

Now listen to the interesting thing that gives the whole place a mysterious touch. Bohuslav Balbín kept in his notebooks a remarkable storytelling that ties to the mill. He recorded rumors about how the mill wheels stopped here at midnight. Try to imagine. You're standing on the shore of the Opatovice Canal, there's a silence of the night, the water is quiet, and there are old stories in your mind about the unexplained phenomena that people told about hundreds of years ago. It is these stories that make the ordinary technical monument a place full of hidden meanings and ancient secrets waiting to be discovered.

Morávkův vodní mlýn is today rightly protected as a valuable cultural monument, which combines the history of a defunct monastery, traces of famous Czech scholars, classical architecture and development of miller craft and modern turbines. I hope you enjoyed this stop. You can continue to walk along the Opatovice Canal and discover further traces of the past in this picturesque landscape. Thank you for your attention and I wish you the rest of the day.