Chvalkovice windmill

In the chronicles, the mention of this village is recorded for the first time in connection with the year 1347, at a time when the Chvalkovice estate was sold by its owner, however, the settlement is documented long before. At the end of the 14th century, a church with a rectory and a spa was built here, and from 1682 there was a brewery and a malt house. Both buildings were later destroyed by fire. A great blow to the village was also the plague epidemic in 1715, due to which the village almost died out.

On one of the hills above Chvalkovice, there is an old windmill, which was first put into operation in 1873, and whose first miller was Josef Vítek, after whom his son Jan worked here as a miller. The mill was named "Vítkův" after its first owner. It operated until World War II, followed by years of decay.

The mill was repaired and restarted by the great-grandson of the last miller, František Sigmund, who inherited their skill from his ancestors. František Sigmund's predecessor equipped the mill with a petrol engine in 1918, which he later converted to coke combustion, thanks to which the mill became independent of weather conditions, and he also built an elevator there.

The windmill in Chvalkovice is built according to the Dutch type of bricks and with a conical roof covered with shingles. From 1873, the aforementioned Josef Vítek began working here, and from 1920, his son Jan. However, the mill was in operation only until 1941, when it was closed.

At present, the mill is not open to the public, but the cylindrical building with a floor plan of 8 m and a total height of almost 11 m can be seen from a distance and visitors can admire it at least from the outside.

Author: Andrea Štyndlová