Scholzeho větrný mlýn Windmill

Welcome to the beautiful Wenceslas. Legally, you are now facing one of the most distinctive symbols of local landscape and history. The Scholzeho větrný mlýn stands before you. Stop for a moment, take a breath and just feel the general impression of this building. Look at its distinctive shape. The dominance that is likely to interest you first is its circular plan and a roof that resembles a cone. It is a building that carries a trace of ancient times when the rhythm of life in this area was determined by the wind and the need to process cereals from surrounding fields. Although the mill is no longer serving its original purpose, its silhouette still tells the story of human work, craftsmanship and time change.

Let us now go back together in time almost two yards back. Imagine the first half of the nineteenth century, namely 1842 and 1843. It was at this time that this object was created here. The building was built by a man named Josef Scholze. He wasn't just a common landlord, he was also an experienced carpenter. It was this combination of knowledge of agriculture and construction craft that was crucial for the creation of such precise construction. Josef Scholze wanted to create a mill that was efficient and durable and therefore chose a walled-up way of building in the then modern Dutch style. At that time, such a mill in the landscape was dominant, signaling prosperity and technological progress. It was not only a place for local residents where the ground grain, but the centre of economic activity around the village of Ucoal and the cadastral territory of Václavic.

Now pay attention to the architecture itself. As you've noticed, this is a Dutch-type mill. What does that even mean in practice? Look at those massive walls and circular shapes. This design was not chosen at random. The circular plan helps the construction to resist wind pressure from any direction, which is absolutely essential for the windmill. Notice the conical roof that used to carry wind blades. These blades were the heart of the entire machine, capturing wind energy and beaming it into the internal mechanism. Although you will not see the original grinding machine inside today, in the times of its greatest fame, there were two grinding compositions and a scrapper. Imagine the noise, the dust from the ground grain flying into the air and the constant movement of the wooden and metal wheels, which, with great precision, crushed the grains on the flour.

When we think about the people who worked here, we must not forget the next generations and owners. After Josef Scholze, the name associated with the mill changed over the years. One of the important personalities was Filip Scholze. But perhaps the most interesting period of operation is related to the last miller, which was Gotthelf Berndt. Between 1870 and 1875 there was an interesting shift in business. Gotthelf Berndt understood that only grinding grain may not be sufficient, so he started to run a bakery in the mill. Imagine the advantage it was. The raw material was grinding on the spot, and there was fresh, hot bread next to it that smelled the whole neighborhood. It was a closed cycle from grain to finished product, which at the time was a very effective way of doing business.

But nothing lasts forever. The year 1890 comes and with it the end of an era. This year the mill was definitively shut down. The world was changing, new technologies were coming, and industrial mills began to push out these smaller, wind buildings. As part of the closure of operation, wind blades were removed, which were once so proudly rotating over the landscape. The mill has gone silent and for decades it has become a silent witness to history rather than an active place of work. The building gradually grew older, but its solid brick structure, which Josef Scholze had built so carefully before, enabled it to survive even the hardest years.

The break in the fate of the building came only in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1967, the building was officially included in the list of cultural monuments. This was a fundamental step because it recognised its historical and technical value. It became clear that this mill must not disappear because it is unique. In 1974, a new owner appeared who had a vision to breathe new life into the building. The process of reconstruction started, but this time not for grinding grain, but for recreational purposes. The building began to transform from a technical object to a resting place. This change continued in the following years and culminated in 1999 when the mill was sold and subsequently converted into a luxury guest house. It is fascinating to see how space, which was once full of dust, noisy machines and hard physical work, turned into a place of peace, comfort and luxury.

Now I want to impress you with one fact that gives this place even greater value. Did you know that the Scholze Mill is one of the only preserved windmills in the Liberec region? That makes him a real rarity. While wind mills are more common in other areas of the Czech Republic, very few have survived here in our region. So when you look at it, you don't just see an old house with an unusual roof, but you see a rare technical monument that survived centuries of change, war and economic crisis. It is proof of how important the ability to use natural resources such as the wind was in the nineteenth century to survive and develop the community.

Look around you again. Feel the atmosphere of this place. Even if you no longer find grinding stones inside and you no longer hear the grinding of wooden gears, the spirit of the old mill still persists here. This building reminds us that although the times are changing and we are now looking for luxury and comfort, the basis of everything was the hard work of craftsmen like Josef Scholze, and the courage of entrepreneurs like Gotthelf Berndt.

Now all you have to do is look at this memory at close range from different angles. Walk around the building, notice the texture of the walls and how the conical roof is inserted into the sky. Let yourself be inspired by the history of this place and perhaps imagine what the mill looked like in 1843 when it first began to rotate in strong wind. Thank you for your attention and I wish you a pleasant rest of the way and many other discoveries in our beautiful region. Goodbye.