Technical monuments

Amerykan Mill near Krapkowice

Among fields and clusters of trees between Pisarzowice and Komorniki, on the Osobłoga river, stand the ruins of a milling complex known as the Amerykan: the former Schreibersdorfer Mühle mill, a granary and a manor house with a bakery. Buildings in the style of the early Florentine Renaissance are unique in the region and today attract photographers and lovers of industrial heritage.

A count's American idea

The complex was built in the 19th century on the initiative of Count Eduard Georg Maria von Oppersdorff of Głogówek. Travelling in the United States, the count became fascinated with modern American mills and bakeries and decided to transfer their concept to his own land. After the models from across the ocean, the local people called the complex the Amerykan – in Silesian, Amerikun – and the name stuck.

Architecture and ruin

The buildings represent the round-arched style (Rundbogenstil) with details recalling the Florentine Renaissance: simple, compact blocks of three or four storeys, walls faced with rustication giving a defensive character, windows and doors closed with arches. The walls emerging from the forest give the impression of a magnate's residence rather than farm buildings.

The ruins stand on the Osobłoga, which flows into the Oder ten kilometres downstream; around them stretches about 50 hectares of forest, and in the undergrowth grow protected plants: snowdrops, lilies of the valley and alder buckthorn. A field path shared with a blue cycling route and a footbridge over the Osobłoga leads to the complex. The walls are at risk of collapse – the site can only be viewed from the outside.