A century old watermill from a village in the Covasna county in Romania will be rebuilt and turned touristic landmark through a private initiative. Albert Zoltan from Sfantu Gheorghe bought the last such water mill in the Covasna county, and has started working on revamping it.

“The village of Belin was once known for its many watermills. […] The last mill, or what was left of it, was derelict, and the village mayor has asked the County Association for Tourism Development for help in trying to save it. But the Association did not have money to do it, so my family decided to save the mill instead,” said Albert Zoltan, quoted by Agerpres.

The man bought the mill two years ago, including the building, the land plot and the 300-meter long water ditch, from the heirs of the miller, seven women and a man. He could not save the building itself, which was derelict, but started re-building it last year. The construction is now one third done.

Zoltan wants to have a running water mill, a tourist landmark, to show tourists how such a mill works, as well as two rooms for those who want to stay the night.

There were as many as 30 such water mills on the small river in the village in the 19th century, according to the Cernat Ethnographic Museum Director Haszmann Pal, quoted by Agerpres. Only one of them is still functional today, owned by a family who keeps the tradition of stone grinding flour.

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(photo source: Wikipedia)