The palace mill | Umkirch Museum

Overview

The palace mill

A mill in Umkirch is first documented in 1483, when it was sold by Heinrich Küchly of Freiburg to the Counts of Tübingen. It then stood until 1570.

The current palace mill was built in about 1750 for Blasi Waldvogel and his wife Catharina Spiegelhalter. Since then, the mill passed through various hands before its last owner, miller Adalbert Schneider, tipped the last batch of corn into the mill in 1978. Despite the high-performance turbines fitted in 1922, the mill was no longer viable. It largely became derelict, and the mill complete with land was bought by the parish in 1998. It was threatened with demolition in 2000, and only saved thanks to the sterling work of a foundation set up for this purpose. The mill was restored between 2002 and 2005, transforming it into a historic jewel at the heart of the community. The mill foundation puts on regular guided tours. Since 2009, the mill has also had a functioning mill wheel, donated by Umkirch’s partner district of Bruges in southern France. A new fish ladder was installed so that the mill wheel could function. The foundation, the parish and Badenova invested in a generator to supply electricity to the mill, which was installed in 2015. In addition, solar panels were fitted to the roof of the neighbouring building at the back in 2019.

Umkirch Museum in the palace mill

When the Umkirch Museum reopened in its new location in a section of the top floor of the palace mill in 2006, it had undergone a complete redesign of both the collection and how it is presented. The fact that it would be limited to a single room needed to be considered. The new concept was therefore based on a series of alternating temporary exhibitions related to both local history and relevant social issues.