Orfü Water Mill

Standing in the middle of a fairyland forest it is as if time had stood still. Next to the old mill there is a typical peasant house, which was once home to the miller. The outhouses and wine cellar are also still standing and bread is still baked in the oven in the separate kitchen.

The mill was built by Karoly Schaff, who was the miler in 1936. The last owner was Henrik Nischinger. In the 1970's the Janus Pannonius Museum restored the buildiong and machinery as a museum.

Near to the water mill a dry mill has also been reconstructed for the pleasure of the museum visitors. The mechanical structure operated all the way until 12946 in Mekényes. The wooden driving wheel was pulled by beasts of burden round and around. The leading animal, the more intelligent one, went in front, while the second followed.

The mills ground mixed flour until the 17th century. The farmers, peasants and self sieved the flour themselves to separate it from the bran. Later, the millers did not pour the cereal into the hopper together with the bran to be milled, but left a larger gap between the mill wheels and first ground the external brown cover off the grain. This is the bran. Afterwards they ground the fine grains, and by repeating this procedure many times were able to produce finer and whiter flour.

When Mr Ganz invented the chill cast rolling mill wheel the Hungarian milling industry started moving towards world success. Andras Mechwart perfected the grinding roller, and Karoly Hagemacher invented machine sieving. Other Hungarian inventors worked out the instruments for measuring quality. Perhaps this is the reason why the world millers came here in droves on the event of the Internmational Molinology Association Conference. The 102 participants visited the mill in Orfu, so that they could wonder at the music made by the old machines at work.

The peasant society has gone, but the milling has stayed the same. The Orfu mill is a calming permanence in itself. Bread is life and a symbol of this the Orfü mill clatters and grinds just as it did 100 years ago.

Some information Address: 7677, Tel.: mayor's office 72/378-411 Opening hours: 1. IV-31. VIII. A.M. 10-12 and 2-6 P.M., 1. IX-30. V. on previous request (János Poppe, Kossuth Lajos str. 4.) Permanent exhibitions: Water-mill and the history of grinding The horse-driven mill from the village Mekényesi

Transport By car: It is only 16 km from Pecs

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