Berthold Mill (Bernhardtmühle), Oderwitz

Using the power of moving water to drive a mill wheel is an ancient invention of the human spirit of discovery, the origins of which can be traced back to times long past. Thanks to such a construction, a natural or artificially created watercourse could simply replace human or animal muscle power with the power of the natural elements, for example to grind grain into corn or to press oil from fruit.There are essentially two different ways of driving watermills:* Either the flowing water simply hits the blades of the water wheel from below to set it in motion; or
* the water is guided above the wheel - usually through a so-called "mill channel" - and falls onto the blades; this type of construction is more efficient due to natural gravity.