Velký mlýn: A Historic Water Mill in Prague-Libeň
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Czechia
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia
- Site type
- Economic
- Remains
- Watermill
On this page8 sections
History
Velký mlýn is a historic water mill in Czechia, situated in Prague-Libeň beside the Rokytka and below Libeň Chateau. Its construction is generally dated to around 1600, although a mill beneath the Libeň fortress was recorded as early as 1530. The complex later became known as Löwitův mlýn and is now a protected cultural monument.
Early mill and estate ownership
The mill was already an established site in the sixteenth century. In 1530, Petr Vosovský of Adler enlarged it with a rag mill, which produced paper from rags. On 27 June 1662, Prague’s Old Town purchased the Libeň estate from Jan Hertvík of Nostitz. The mill was included among the estate’s properties.
Libeň was looted during the Wars of the Austrian Succession, the European conflict fought chiefly from 1740 to 1748 over the succession to the Habsburg throne. The Great Mill and nearby buildings were probably destroyed during the events of 1741 and 1744. The mill was restored in 1747, and on 10 February 1748 it was transferred to Jan Souš under strict conditions.
Industrial operation and closure
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the mill passed through the hands of many owners and operators. They included the copper-hammer operator František Herrl, Eva and Matěj Jelínek, the miller Alois Ronz, and Josef Hála. Hála later became a municipal councillor and was elected mayor of the Libeň municipality in 1870, although he declined the office.
The mill’s operation depended on a millrace, a channel that carried diverted water to power the machinery. Regulation of the Vltava riverbed began in 1872, and the millrace that flowed around Libeň’s Jewish quarter was drained during the works. The loss of this water supply brought the mill’s operation to an end.
Conversion, damage, and renewed public use
Jáchym Löwit acquired the mill buildings in 1883 and converted them into a bakery. Prague municipality became the owner again in 1906. In the 1950s, the national enterprise Zelenina Praha adapted the buildings as a potato warehouse. At the end of the 1960s, the deteriorating complex was taken over by the S. K. Neumann Theatre, now Divadlo pod Palmovkou, for storing theatrical props.
Prague 8 completely renovated the building in 2001. In May 2002, the SERPENS civic association began organizing cultural events there through the Otevřeno project, and the mill also hosted a theatrical celebration marking the centenary of Libeň’s incorporation into Prague. The floods of August 2002 then inundated the building up to the roof and practically destroyed the renovation. The mill remained unused afterward because Prague 8 lacked the funds for another reconstruction. An attempt by the Valmet Theatre to lease it was unsuccessful.
In 2022 and 2023, the Velký mlýn association adapted the building through the project “A Stop at the Mill,” which aimed to revive the unused complex and give it a permanent public function. The cultural centre opened on 24 July 2023 with a branch of the Prague Municipal Library and a café.
Remains
Main mill building
The principal mill building has a rectangular plan. It was originally a two-storey structure, but the later raising of the surrounding ground level has left it with a ground floor and a semi-basement. The ground-floor and former upper-floor interiors are formed by large open spaces with exposed beam ceilings. A central row of carved wooden columns supports the ceilings and remains a defining element of the interior.
The 2022–2023 adaptation gave the building several public functions. The basement now contains a cultural hall for concerts and lectures. The ground floor accommodates the library, a study room, and a café, while exhibition spaces occupy the attic.
Water system and industrial features
An artificial island called Srub once lay between the mill and a copper hammer on an island at the site of the former Görner Villa. A copper hammer was a water-powered industrial hammer used in copperworking. A weir above the island supplied water power to both the mill and the hammer.
Stakes from the construction of the weir were found at the end of the nineteenth century during work on the Libeň port. The mill complex also included a sawmill and waterworks. The waterworks supplied Libeň Chateau and its manor farmyard, linking the industrial site to the wider estate.
Adjacent farm buildings
The farm buildings beside the mill form part of the complex. Following the recent adaptation, they contain technical facilities and a project office, while the principal public functions are concentrated in the historic mill building.
