WINDMILL – Melenci

WINDMILL – Melenci

Bošnjak’s Windmill, also known as the windmill, was built on the outskirts of the village, beside the road to Bašaid, in 1899. It was constructed using a combination of brick and adobe, in the shape of a truncated cone, and topped with a conical shingle roof. A massive shaft with sails once passed through the movable roof, which could be turned to face the wind. The wind powered the sails, which in turn drove the mill’s mechanism. The sails are now missing, and the wooden mechanism has suffered extensive damage. The interior is divided into a ground floor, two upper floors and an attic, connected by an internal staircase. The attic and top floor housed the structural framework, while the first floor contained three pairs of millstones used to grind grain. On the ground floor, there were an equal number of bins into which flour was channelled through wooden chutes. The windmill closely resembles those in Čurug and Belo Blato and represents a rare surviving example of a type of structure that was once widespread throughout the region. Although the Provincial Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments completely restored the building in 1971, apart from repairs to parts of the milling mechanism, the windmill suffered considerable deterioration after more than thirty years of disuse. There was a risk of total collapse, making urgent conservation work necessary to stabilise the structure and restore its damaged elements. The Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Zrenjanin prepared the technical documentation for the reconstruction and structural stabilisation of the building. On the basis of this documentation, funding for the works was allocated by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia. The restoration was carried out in two phases during 2007. The first phase involved repairs to the foundations and walls, while the second focused on stabilising the roof structure and installing new wooden shingles. These works helped prevent the collapse of this rare example of traditional vernacular architecture.

The windmill is not open to visitors.

Source: www.dvorci.info

Attractions

All attractions