Kvěchův mlýn, Historical watermill in Dražice, Czech Republic
Kvěchův mill sits on the right bank of the Luznice River and combines traditional construction with grain-milling equipment. The site now includes a modern hydroelectric power station with turbines that generate electricity.
The site was known as Žabkovský mill before 1550, until Václav Kvěch acquired it in 1606 and gave it a new name. After a fire in 1887, it was rebuilt and expanded with a sawmill in 1891 before eventually becoming a power generation facility.
The mill's names record its users: Žabkovský after the town of Tábor, Výrkovský after the Malý family called Výrkové, and Na Papírně, "at the paper mill". The Kvěch family has held it, with breaks in the 1930s and the 1950s–1990s, since Václav Kvěch bought it in 1606.
The building stands at Klokoty-Dražice no. 37 on the right bank of the Lužnice, at river kilometre 34.814, about 3 km downstream from Tábor. It is a working facility, not a museum: it houses a hydroelectric plant and a wastewater treatment plant. Approach on foot along the river; other mills, such as Benešův and Matoušovský, lie further downstream.
The mill's water wheel is documented from 1606, and since 1995 a Francis turbine of 22 kW with a Kaplan propeller of 3 kW has generated power here. The building also serves as a wastewater treatment plant.
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