Eisenmühle (Oderwitz)

The Eisenmühle Oderwitz stands beside the Profener Elstermühlgraben in the village of Oderwitz, Saxony. It is a group of buildings arranged around a former iron-powder mill that operated from 1915 to 1993. Large parts of the site are protected as monuments, and the museum inside is the only one of its kind in Germany. The mill began as a grain and sawmill in the 12th century under the monks of Pegau. After fires in 1908–1913, Clemens Kunze rebuilt it and added an iron-powder mill in 1915. His son joined the business and the mill expanded in 1939 with turbines and a small generator. After the Second World War the family left, and later the East German authorities closed the grain mill. The Kunze family returned after reunification but could not make the iron-powder process profitable, so the mill closed in 1993. Today visitors find two residential buildings, a museum wing and a café in the refurbished complex. The museum shows how iron rods were rubbed together by water power to make fine powder for pharmaceuticals and fireworks. Two original rubbing machines survive, one rebuilt to run on the mill’s own turbines. In another wing a private collection of mechanical musical instruments includes orchestrions and music boxes made by Hupfeld of Leipzig. Beyond the millrace stands the unused former grain mill, while the site’s small hydroelectric plant still generates power with two Francis turbines.