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The largest complex of water mills in southern Europe – 22 watermills, two centuries old – stretches on three kilometers along the Rudăria river, at the foothills of Almăjului Mountains in Banat (western region of Romania including Timişoara). The famous water mills park attracts tourists from Romania and abroad, as the site is included in the UNESCO World Heritage and was recently revamped by the “Astra” Village Museum in Sibiu.
Although the use of these primary hydraulic systems was introduced in the area in the second and third centuries, the first 8 mills were officially registered in 1722. Just 50 years later, in 1874, 51 mills were functional. In the meantime, due to floods and other events, their number went down to 22. Locals still use them for grinding and as a meeting place. One mill grinds about 130 kilograms in one day and is managed by 15 to 25 families from the village. Visitors can understand better the milling system here in the museum at Rudaria, where a dismantled mill is exhibited.
Surrounded by mountains, the Efitime Murgu locality (in older times called Rudăria, after the river crossing it) in Caraş-Severin county has a picturesque landscape: Aninei and Semenicului in the north-west, Almăjului in south, Locvei mountains in south-west and Ţarcului and Cernei mountains in the background, towards east.
How to get there
By car, from Bucharest: take E81 road to Piteşti, then E574 to Craiova and E70 to Orşova. As you pass Orşova, continue on E70 until you reach road 57B. Turn left on 57B and continue until you reach a roadsign indicating the Eftimie Murgu locality. Turn left on that road (571F) and continue until you exit the village. After a few miles it reaches a forestry road and the entrance at the mill park.
Where Watermills Turn the Hands of Time
The Rudăria inhabitants learned to grind cereals in those wooden buildings with special installations hundreds of years ago. In 1772 eight mills were recorded in Rudăria, but this cereal grinding method has been always used, since the 2nd – 3rd centuries. One hundred years later, in 1874, in Rudăria 51 watermills operated, more than half of them being destructed by inundations in 1827, 1941 and 1955.
Today, only 22 mills with buckets operate in Rudăria. At the end of the’90s the reconditioning works started with money from the European Union. Unfortunately, in the fall of 2014 the mills on Rudăria Valley were almost completely destructed by strong high flood. Yet, they have been reconstructed by the locals with money from the Government, so that the tourists can admire them today.
The 22 mills belonging to UNESCO patrimony bear the name of the place where they are located or of ”leader/family”: “Îndărătnica de la perete” (The Stubborn One from the Wall), “Moara din Ţarină” (The Mill on the Tilled Land), “Moara cu Tunel” (The Mill with Tunnel), “Popascu”, etc.
Just like during Dacian times, the Rudăria inhabitants grind their corn and wheat by using the technique of sweeping the cereals with the heavy millstone. The villagers tell that the flour obtained in this way has a special flavour. The locality Rudăria, named today Eftimie Murgu, is situated a few kilometres away from Bozovici.
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