Schwerin (dpa/mv) - More than 600 historic mills nationwide have their blades, water wheels or engines turned on Monday. The occasion is the 29th German Mill Day. Guided tours and festivals are announced in many places. The central opening event will take place in the grinding mill in Schwerin (11:00 a.m.). In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania alone, 19 historic mills are taking part.
At the German Mill Day, the mill friends also want to point out problems in the preservation of technical monuments. The so-called small hydroelectric power plant is threatened by the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), criticizes the German Society for Mill Science and Mill Maintenance. The feed-in tariff will therefore no longer apply in the future. However, it is an important financial source for listed watermills.
The European Water Framework Directive is also giving mill enthusiasts headaches. According to the company, when rivers are renatured, the water is often literally drained from historic mills. The required fish ladders are too expensive for the small mills. So - even for show purposes - the water wheels could often no longer turn.
Even 150 years ago, windmills and watermills shaped the landscape. According to the Mühlenverein Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, almost every village had its own mill. It was only the modern large mills that deprived them of their economic basis. Today there are still around 150 water mills, 120 windmills and 40 motor mill locations in MV. Often they can only be identified on ruins or a few stones or wooden beams. 217 mills are classified as technical monuments in MV.
The German Mill Day has existed since 1994.
