Alpine mills (Apriacher Stockmuehlen) description and photos - Austria: Heiligenblut (Topic)

Alpine mills (Apriacher Stockmuehlen) description and photos - Austria: Heiligenblut. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Apriacher Stockmuehlen.

Photo and description

The ensemble of eight alpine mills located in the Austrian city of Heiligenblut is unique. Such buildings, erected from short-lived wood, in many surrounding villages have suffered from environmental influences or were destroyed by people. In Heiligenblut, as many as eight mills have survived, which were used in past centuries for grinding grain.

Several centuries ago, not meadow grasses, but cold-resistant wheat varieties, dominated on the sunny slopes of the Alps. They grew at an altitude of 1500 meters above sea level. Almost every alpine farm has its own mill installed on the alpine slope. Some of these structures belonged to several farms at once. They were more spacious and had several millstones for processing grain at once. All mills in the vicinity of Heiligenblut were built no later than the 18th century. The "youngest" building dates back to 1792. In 1976, an association was created in the city, whose task was to protect the Alpine mills.

All mills are wooden houses raised above the ground on solid piles. A stream of water passes under them, turning the mill wheel. Thus, all the mills could work at the same time.

All buildings and water wheels were made of larch wood, and the millstones were made of granite.

Today, the old mills have been renovated. Some are equipped with new steps and open terraces instead of dilapidated ones. You can climb any mill, look down at the water turning a wheel, at any time of the day.

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Topic: Alpine mills (Apriacher Stockmuehlen) description and photos - Austria: Heiligenblut.