New Mill (Erfurt)

Exterior view

The Neue Mühle is a technical museum on the Schlösserbrücke in the Thuringian capital of Erfurt . It is located on a branch of the small river Gera, which operates the mill's hydropower plant. It contains a grain mill with an undershot Zuppinger water wheel and is the last functioning mill from what was once 60 in the city. It has been called the “New Mill” since it was rebuilt after the fire of 1735. The material flow that has been preserved over all floors by means of a belt bucket elevator is particularly interesting . In addition to a grinding mill , historical roller mills , several plansifters and a mill brake elevator can also be seen.

history

About creation and destruction

Several tributaries of the Gera River flow through Erfurt at a relatively high speed. As a result, up to 60 mills were built in the city. It was therefore necessary that a written record on water law was drawn up in 1332. This regulated the extraction of water for agricultural purposes, the size and number of water wheels, tasks of the millers in river maintenance and the height of the slopes and weirs of the individual mills.

The "Neue Mühle" has been traceable under various names in the sources since the 13th century: Hirschmühle, Martinsmühle, Martinsmühle zum Hirsch, Mühle vor dem Long Steg, Mühle zum Roten Hirsch, Hirschgensmühle. In Severi's financial register from 1259, the mill is listed as "molendium comitis" (Grafenmühle), which indicates the owner, Count von Gleichen. In 1322 the ownership of the mill is said to have been divided. The families from the lake and from Ludersborn each pay the interest for the fourth part and Konrad Hotermann for half the part. After 1331 the property was brought together again. The Milwitz family has been registered as owners since the end of the 16th century.

In October 1736 the mill and 70 houses near the preacher's monastery burned down. The “New Mill” was then rebuilt and has been called this ever since. In 1737, the mill, whose owners were Councilor Moliton and Councilor Clemens, began again in 1737. In 1753 she got the right to operate five water wheels and since the 18th century free millers have owned the mill. In 1867 it was bought by Carl Köhler, who later modernized it and installed roller mills. For some time it was called "Art Mill". Eduard Gruhn bought it from the widow Koehler, whose son Heinrich was the last miller in the mill. Until it was sold to the city in 1982, it was operated commercially as a grinding mill.

Shortly after installing a new and more powerful drive element, the so-called "Zuppinger water wheel", a gas engine was also necessary in 1895, as the water conditions for the mill had deteriorated further. Carl Köhler refused to pay the building tax for this, as the system was supposed to support the operation of the mill when the water was low. In 1919 a three-phase motor was installed, which was connected to the city power grid. In February 1945, the mill was damaged in bombing, which caused damage to the building and the water drive.

Reconstruction since the Second World War

The reconstruction of the mill, which was partly destroyed in the air raids on Erfurt in the Second World War, began immediately after the end of the war, as Köhler's widow immediately applied for reconstruction. The lock bridge, on which the mill is located, was widened again in 1947/48, whereby the area of the property was 90 m ² smaller and the front facade was demolished. To protect the water wheel, a massive water house was built at the beginning of the 1950s, which meant that the mill could now also be used in severe winters. Now the Gruhn family had taken over the mill and in 1951 installed a Francis turbine in addition to the water wheel and, a little later, an additional electric motor. Finally, a 24 hp diesel engine was installed as a reserve and some machines, such as the roller mills, were modernized.

The son of the Gruhn family, Heinrich, ran it despite the increasing competition from the industrial mills and the many economic and political problems that small traders in the GDR constantly had to contend with. In 1982 it was finally sold to the city. It is thanks to Heinrich Gruhn that the mill has been preserved in its originality as a handicraft mill, essentially with the technical status of the late 19th century and fully functional.

On October 31, 1992, the mill was reopened as a museum and a subsidiary of the Erfurt City Museum. Heinrich Gruhn remained loyal to his mill until 1994 and worked in the management company. In 1996, an energy generation system was installed in the “Neue Mühle”, which operates a generator using the water power of the Gera with the original water wheel. This generated 289,164.0 kWh by December 31, 2011.