Větrný mlýn (Rymice) Windmill

Welcome to Rymice. Right now, you're facing one of the most striking and fascinating buildings of our scandal. In front of you is a windmill that immediately attracts the attention of every visitor with its silhouette. Stop for a moment, take a breath and just feel his presence. It is a building that carries a century of history, human effort and struggle with natural elements. Look at its overall form and perceive the sense of stability that radiates, even if it is essentially a wood structure.

However, this mill has not stood in Rymice since its beginning. His journey to us was long and full of events. In order to understand what we are actually seeing, we need to move more than two yards back in our minds, namely to 1795. It was this year that the mill was built, but not here, but in the village of Borenovice. Imagine the landscape where these machines served as the heart of the local economy. At a time when neither electricity nor combustion engines existed, wind power was one of the most valuable sources of energy. The mill was not just a building, it was the technological peak of its time, which allowed to turn grain into flour and thereby provide food for the whole village.

Now pay attention to the architecture itself, because it is very specific. You're standing in front of the so-called German pillar mill. This is a technical name for the type of construction where the whole mill, i.e. its main part with machiners, stands on one massive vertical column. This construction was brilliant in allowing the whole structure to rotate so that the mill blades were always directed directly against the wind, no matter where it was blowing. Look at its dimensions. The entire floor plan is exactly square, measures five and eighty to five and eighty meters. If you look up, you'll see that the building is at 11 and 2 / 10 feet. It's a height enough for the mill to catch air flow over the surrounding terrain.

Notice the roof as well. It is covered with shingles, which is a traditional material that gives the mill its typical, rustic appearance while protecting it from collisions. The whole object is performed in classical style. This means that in its construction we will find a certain balance, silverness and functionality that was typical for the end of the eighteenth century. Nothing here is useless, every element has a clear purpose.

Now let's think about the people who created this mill and kept it going. Behind every stone and every piece of wood is a human story. One of the key persons was František Hlobil. Imagine his courage and ambition in 1795. It was he who purchased the building plot in Borenovice, on which the mill originally stood. The price was 60 gold coins. This may sound like a small amount to us these days, but at the time it was a considerable financial undertaking. What is even more interesting, however, is the fact that he did not pay back these sixty gold pieces at once, but took them to debt. So this mill was essentially a product of financial risk, faith in the future and hard work. The name František Sklař appears next to him in the history of the mill. These men breathed life into the building and ensured that the mill served the community and the mill trade in the region prospered.

But history is not only about building and success, but also about the tests that the building has to pass. In 1891 the mill experienced its greatest dramatic moment. There was a strong storm that was so devastating, it just knocked over this massive wooden structure. Imagine the thunder of falling wood and the shock of the locals who saw their important machine lying in ruins on the ground. It may seem like it's over, but the miller trade is about endurance. The mill was not abandoned or demolished. It was followed by a difficult reconstruction and repair. The fact that the mill got up again and could continue to function suggests its enormous value to the people at the time and their ability to repair what seemed irreparably destroyed.

Maybe now you can think of a question of how the mill got here to Rymic. This happened much later, in 1977. As part of the effort to preserve unique elements of folk architecture, the mill was carefully moved to the skanzen. It became part of the Folk Construction File, where it can be protected from oblivion and decay. Thanks to this transfer we can admire today a valuable document of technical history and miller craft from all over Kroměříž. It's basically a time machine that shows us how life has been and worked in the past.

When you look at the mill, try to imagine the constant noise of wooden gears, dust from ground grain in the air and the smell of fresh flour. Imagine a miller who had to have a sense of the wind and understand every squeak of his building. This mill is not just a dead object in the museum, it is a monument to human ingenuity and the ability to use the forces of nature to its advantage.

Now that you know the story of this mill, I suggest you take a moment to examine it. Walk around him, perceive the texture of the shingles roof, and think about how many generations of people passed by him and how many bags of grain within him went through the grinding. It is fascinating to think that this building survived the whirlwind, the movement and the rotation of regimes and centuries.

Thank you for your attention to this place. I now invite you to continue to explore our scan. There are other beautiful buildings in the vicinity that reveal the secrets of our ancestors' rural life and crafts. Let yourself be guided by your curiosity and enjoy the rest of your visit to Rymice. I wish you a pleasant and inspiring walk.