The literature about windmills in area Czech republic.

The literature about windmills in area Czech republic in history.

 The first record of a wind mill in Bohemia can be found in Kosma’s Chronicles. According to it, a wind mill was built in Prague in Strahov’s monastery’s garden in 1277s. The builders are said to be pemonstrats.
 The oldest known sketch of a wind mill comes from 1489; it can be found in the Bible of Kutna Hora.
 In the modern-age era, oldest information about wind mills can be found in dictionaries. For example, Otta’s Dictionary, volume 17 from 1901 – keyword milling and volume 26 from 1907 – wind wheel.
 The first ever study about wind mills in the Czech Republic was being written by historian of ethnography magazine Cesky Lid, professor Cenek Zibrt. He died before the study was finished. His articles in the Cesky Lid magazine from 1925 to 1932 helped create readers‘ interest in wind mills. He was then able to gather information from his readers directly from the field. Later other people, such as Frantisek Starý, Florián Zapletal, Rudolf Janovský, Egon Stoklas and others, joined the wind mill mapping effort.
 Years after 1945 mark the beginning of a new era in wind mill interest. Several studies were published in magazines, such as Ceskoslovenska Etnografie, Cesky Lid, and other regional magazines. Major share in mapping wnd mill locations was accomplished by etnographs Ota Pokorný, Václav. Burian a Josef Vařeka under the realm of CS’s Academy of Science. In their papers, they documented over 900 locations where once stood a wind mill in the previous 300 years. From this total, 200 were located in Bohemia and 700 in Moravia. 36 locations were also found in Slovakia.
(Václav Burian: Wind Mills in Moravia and Silesia, Olomouc 1965, 79 pages, detailed map. Ota Pokorný: Listing and locations of wind mills in Bohemia, Brno 1973, 267 pages, 27 illustrations, map).
A complete map of will mill locations in the Czech Republic was published in Cesky Lid magazine in 1975. This map was based on listings of each alleged will mill location according to archeologic records.
 Josef Vareka’s book “Wind Mills in Moravia and Silesia” constitutes the first specialized complete publication on wind mills (published by Slovacke museum in Uherské Hradiste in 1967, 84 pages, 26 photos. Second amended edition was published in 1982 by the same publisher). The book contains history and typology of the Czech Republic’s mills, description of their construction, a chapter about builders and their position in society, as well as rich bibliography.
 Very significant contribution towards learning about wind mills on international scale was a scienctific conference about wind mills, held by the Technical Muzeum in Brno from June 12-13, 1974. Part of this conference was an exhibition on this topic; also a comprehensive memorial volume was published. In addition to domestic scientists, speeches were given by Mr. Jespersen from Denmark, Ms. Wesolovska and Mr. Klaczynski from Poland. (Memorial volume was published in 1975 by the Technical muzeum of Brno, 150 pages).
 In 1979, director of the Technical muzeum of Brno MiroslavBerka published, as his first dissertation study, a paper named „Wind Mills as Technical Historic Monuments“ (published by the Technical muzeum of Brno in 1979, 215 pages). The paper contains detailed technical parameters of 13 wind mills, including drawings. Another chapter details in theory the mathematical description of the energy/force relationships in mills‘ mechanisms. Described further is the reconstruction of the will mill in Kuzelov, which was carried through by the Technical muzeum of Brno in years from 1973 to 1977.
 Between 1972 and 1988, František Sustek published many articles about his research of wind mills in the Oderske highlands area (central Moravia).
 After the fall of Communism in 1989, many towns began coming out with their own publications and creating web pages about their histories. In many cases a wind mill is mentioned on these websites, e.g. towns of Hodslavice, Poruba, Město Libavá, etc.
 In 2000, employees of the open air museum of folk buildings on hilltop Vesely by Chrudim Ludvík Stepán a Magda Krivanová published comprehensive and narrative publication „Work and Life of Millers and Millwrights in Bohemia“ (published by AGRO, 315 pages, large amounts of attached pictures). This publication overall concentrates on water mills from Bohemia (Moravia is not covered). Wind mills are mentioned only on a seldom basis, on several examples the function of a wind mill is shown. Mill technology and procedures are described in detail for all types of mills.
 In 2002, Publisher BAT Program from Roznov pod Radhostem came out with a map of wind and water mills in the Czech Republic. Wind mill locations for this map were provided by Jan Doubek. Only the most significant water mills, which complete wind mills, are mentioned. In addition to classic wind mills of the german and holland type and wind-operated water pumps, the map documents for the first time the extend of use of a small turbine-operated will mill. In the CR, such type can be only found in northern Moravia.
The map shows 62 wind mills, 30 smaller wind mills and 11 wind-operated pumps. Twenty eight locations are described in detail with translation into German and English.
• During 2001 and 2002, the Cykloturistika magazine published a series of articles about wind mills in the Czech Republic, authored by Martin Janoska. The goal of these articles is to draw the attention of broad public to the possibly interesting destinations for bicycle trips. He summarized his work and findings in book „Wind Mills in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia“ (published by Libri, 2003, 180 pages with abundance of photographs).
The book is intended for broad public with interest in technical historical heritage. It mentions 66 remaining, reconstructed and ruined objects. The following 7 other locations are missing:
The Kralovehradecký region: Cerna voda – ruin
The Southern Moravia region: Znojmo – toner in the town wall
The Zlin region: Zeranovice – monument
The Olomouc region: Brodek u Konice – transformed into a residence
Horni Stepanov – ruin
The Moravia –Silesia region: Ostrava Poruba – ruin

In this book, experts miss a map of mills‘ locations, detailed drawings of propulsion structure and milling procedures, as well as construction-related areas of interest. For follow-up work, the list of sources used is insufficient.

 In Ostrava’s universities, two thesis about wind mills were written. In 1997, Lada Remesová wrote „Wind Mills in the Odersko Highlands“ (120 pages, attachements). She pays close attention mainly to the Partutovice wind mill.
In 2000, Tomas Slonka successfully defended his thesis „Small Wind Mills in the Karvina and FM Regions“ (63 pages, 26 photos, 6 drawings). Herein, 13 small wind mills with Kunz-type turbine are described.
 In the meantime, Jan Doubek is preparing an insert to the „Zpravy pamatkove pece“ magazine, in which all remaining wind mills will be evaluated from technical perspective.

Written by: Jan Doubek  2004      Translated by: Robert Soucek