Watermills and windmills as monuments in Poland - protection of cultural heritage in situ and in open-air museums

Abstract

This paper presents the results of research on the history of the protection of mills as objects of cultural heritage on Polish lands. First, the spatial distribution of over 20,000 mills at the beginning of the previous century is characterized, then the main actions undertaken for their protection in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are discussed. Merely 3.4% of mills that worked in the past are now protected as monuments and recorded in the national register. Most of them remain in their original locations (in situ), and another 71 windmills and 22 watermills have been relocated to open-air museums. These specific institutions face a particularly important task involving the necessity to retain the original functionality of the mills.