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Maintenance work (restoration, repair and elimination of the threat of an accident) was adopted in November of last year, and on July 16 of this year the factory was officially and solemnly inaugurated. To rejoice in such a beautiful moment came both the institutions that did their best to revive the mill and the local people who had also seen the mill flourish and then disappeared.
A stubborn Jonas Kanapkis built a Sūduva windmill in 1925 on a hill near Vištytis, where important surrounding roads intersect. In the interwar period, a series of carriages lined up waiting for grain to be collected. During the Soviet era, the mill was nationalized, its wings were removed, and an electric motor was installed to grind grain from the collective farm. It was a painful period for J. Kanapkus. Angry, he even burned the wings of the mill. In 1978, an ethnographic museum was opened in the factory, which operated until 1992. Then, the exhibits collected by the chickens were taken to the Vilkaviškis Region Museum, and the mill together with the miller’s house were returned to the owners, who for a long time did not find the funds for the maintenance of the mill.
Chicken symbol
In 2015, with funds from the Department of Cultural Heritage (CRD) of the Ministry of Culture and the association “Sūduva Culture Foundation”, an investigation was carried out on the architecture, wood and structures of the factory and a project was prepared maintenance based on them. In 2018, the municipality of Vilkaviškis district found financial resources for the purchase of the factory.
When the mill fell into the hands of the municipality, the work could continue to rotate. The State Protected Areas Service (VSTT) of the Ministry of the Environment allocated the funds received from the EU structural funds for management works, and the Vištytis Regional Park Directorate assumed responsibility for the use of the arranged windmill. A tripartite agreement was signed and, in early 2019, maintenance work on the factory was finally started.
Photo by Jūratė Mičiulienė / Vištytis mill
As Nerijus Paškauskas, director of the Vištytis Regional Park, said, at the inauguration ceremony of the mill, the resurrection of the mill was scheduled for a second life: it is still alive in the memory of local people, and its image with rotating wings has been drawn in the Vištytis Regional Park logo. Therefore, the honor of the regional park was to do everything possible to revive the mill and become another important cultural heritage and visited by tourists from the country. Inside the mill: authentic equipment, educations will be organized, the mill is open for visits.
“The value of the museum: landscape, technological, architectural, historical and emotional memories of the local population, evoking sentimental memories, is invaluable. Local people who remember the interwar period have said of the mill that it was their breadwinner. And the owner of the mill, J. Kanapkis, a poor orphan, was called a stubborn boy from the Sūduva region, who, after serving in water mills in Poland, returned to his country and was able to realize his dream, said Rimutė Gagien dijo , a bodybuilder in Vištytis Regional Park. “He built the mill just when it was being built, free Lithuania was getting stronger, when everyone was full of enthusiasm and ambition.” According to the bodybuilder, the Vištytis windmill is not just a technical monument , but also a symbol of the Vištytis region, reflecting the aspirations of the people., which included Lithuania, which declared its independence.
Photo by Jūratė Mičiulienė / Vištytis mill
Teamwork
“It is not difficult to work when funding is provided, and there is support at all levels,” said Albertas Stanislovaitis, director of VSTT, about the factory restoration. – I am glad that it was an object that could be arranged without discomfort or problems. There was an excellent team, which included the Vilkaviškis District Municipality, the Department of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Regional Park Directorate team. They all worked with one goal: to restore this windmill.
A special thanks to the municipality of the district, who took the first step: bought the object and allowed us to continue developing the project. Another important step was the approval of the project (since it is a cultural heritage site). Without CRD approval, this would have been an impossible mission. I hear very often that conservationists don’t allow anything to be done. Standing next to this mill, I can argue. I need to speak, negotiate. And here you see the result. “
Photo by Jūratė Mičiulienė / Vištytis mill
Speaking at the celebration, the Minister for the Environment, Kęstutis Mažeika, recalled how, in 2017, while still a member of the Seimas Environmental Protection Committee, he went to Vištytis to talk about the wolf problem and learned about the mill. “Then I realized that it was spinning in people’s hearts, that it was very important to people in some places. The common desire of many people to restore the mill and it worked, “said K. Mažeika, adding that Kęstutis Smirnovas, a member of the Seimas of Sūduva, was constantly interested in restoring the mill.
The mayor of the municipality of Vilkaviškis district, Algirdas Neiberka, recalled how the mill had disappeared, how people had repeatedly requested and asked for its rescue. “While we were in private hands, there was nothing we could do. Together with the specialists from the Department of Cultural Heritage, we thought about what to do. I am very happy that we have Donatas Kazlauskas, an honorary citizen citizen and athlete from Vilkaviškis, who helped buy the mill from private hands, said the mayor. – A special thanks to the contractors. UAB Vilkasta, who worked with love, did what he did. They did more than they had to do. This mill can also rotate. This is probably the only mill in Lithuania that has the opportunity to rotate on its axis. This is a truly unique object. Tourists are already visiting. “
Photo by Jūratė Mičiulienė / Vištytis mill
Maintained authenticity
The mill maintenance was carried out in accordance with the Vištytis windmill maintenance project prepared by SE Lietuvos Paminklai Ieva Vilytė architect. Management work preserved the authenticity of the mill and organized all the valuable features of the mill. Mill foundations have been restored, wall and ceiling structures, floor beams, tops and wooden boards have been repaired and restored.
According to the iconography, the wings of the mill have been restored, the so-called wind rose has been restored, flapping its wings, as well as all the carpentry products, the wrought metal door hinges, the “cast iron head” and the spinning wheel have survived. Around the mill a pavement, electrical installation, security and fire alarms, lightning protection system are installed. The rest of the authentic engineering and technology equipment has also been preserved and restored.
Photo by Jūratė Mičiulienė / Vištytis mill
According to Aloyzas Beržanskis, the head of UAB Vilkasta, while working in this mill, I had to forget all the modern tools and collect those that people used to work with: hammers, saws, axes. “We work with these tools under the supervision of specialists from the Department of Cultural Heritage and the State Service of Protected Areas. Now our company can be proud of such a unique object, – said A. Beržanskis. – I would especially like to highlight Rolandas Kepenis, the foreman, who studied the drawings, delved into the principles of the operation of the mill and the architecture of the mills in general. The mill wings are currently fixed, but Roland knows what it takes to disconnect them.
The windmill is suitable to visit not only as a museum, but also as an observation tower. Climbing to the top of the mill opens a wonderful panorama of the city and the landscape of Vištytis. The preserved and restored mill will carry out cultural activities and events to promote cultural heritage. The implemented project also updates the value of the wooden heritage as an integral and more fragile part of the Lithuanian architectural heritage, which has deep traditions of Lithuanian folk construction and crafts. Chicken celebrates its 450th anniversary this year. The restoration of the mill is a great gift for Vištytis.
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