Dutch Windmill in Pyzdry

In 2021 the brick windmill in Pyzdry won Poland's national “Well-Kept Monument” competition in the industrial heritage category. Only a few years earlier this tower mill of 1903 on Wrocławska street was still in private hands. Today it belongs to the municipality, the local museum looks after it, and on selected weekends its machinery turns again.

History: from private mill to award winner

The windmill was built in 1903; municipal planning documents cite it as an example of 20th-century industrial architecture in Pyzdry. It was entered in the heritage register on 1 February 1969 and renovated in 1974. For many years it remained privately owned; the municipality planned to buy it in 2019 and open it to visitors. The purchase and restoration were funded by the EU's Rural Development Programme 2014–2020, and a few months after the work was completed the mill was entered in the competition run by the Minister of Culture and Poland's Chief Heritage Conservator – successfully.

What to see

Unlike the wooden post mills typical of villages in Greater Poland, a “Dutch” tower mill has a fixed masonry body, and only the top with the sails turns. The Pyzdry mill stands on a brick plinth, is round in plan and has three storeys under a domed roof. Its doors and windows have segmental arches, and the staircase is on the south side. Inside, posts support the floors and the mechanical equipment – part of the original 1903 milling machinery survives.

Tripto tip

The windmill is open in season, from 1 May to 30 September, on Saturdays and Sundays from 13:00 to 17:00. The best time to come is the first weekend of the month, when the machinery is set in motion for a quarter of an hour at 15:00. Out of season, ask about visits at the Pyzdry Regional Museum (ul. Kaliska 25A, tel. +48 63 220 57 33). 30–45 minutes is enough. While in Pyzdry, also see the wooden arcaded house of 1768 on the market square – a branch of the museum that won the same competition a year later – and the large historical mural on the sports hall.