WINDMILL – Melenci

WINDMILL – Melenci

Bošnjak’s Windmill, or wind-driven mill, was built on the outskirts of the village, near the road to Bašaid, in 1899. It is constructed of brick and adobe in the shape of a truncated cone, topped with a conical shingle roof. A massive shaft with sails, which captured the wind and powered the mill mechanism, once passed through the movable roof, which could be “turned” to face the wind. The sails are now missing, and the wooden mechanism is largely damaged.

The interior is divided into a ground floor, two upper floors, and an attic, connected by an internal staircase. The attic and upper floor contained the structural framework, while the first floor housed three pairs of millstones for grinding grain. The ground floor contained as many bins into which the flour fell through chutes. The windmill is very similar to those in Čurug and Belo Blato and represents a rare example of the once numerous structures of this type.

Although the Provincial Institute restored the windmill building completely in 1971 (except for the mill mechanism), after more than thirty years of disuse, the windmill suffered significant damage. There was a risk of total collapse, creating the need for urgent conservation work to repair the structure and restore damaged parts. The Zrenjanin Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments prepared the project and technical documentation for reconstruction and structural repair, based on which funds were allocated by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.

The restoration took place in 2007 in two phases. The first phase addressed the foundation and wall repairs, and the second phase included roof structure restoration and installation of a new shingle roof, preventing the collapse of this rare example of traditional architecture.

The windmill is not open to visitors.

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