Pyrohiv. Wooden windmills

Over the steppe, above the valleys, the wind played with the feather grass,

and it came upon an old, abandoned windmill.

And the wind called out to it:

"For nigh on half a century now

you have stood here alone, as if enchanted forever."

(A song by Bohdan Kyik)

The windmills at the open-air museum in Pyrohiv are its most recognisable exhibits and the most popular subjects for romantic photo shoots.

Kyiv. Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. Pyrohiv. Wooden windmills

For several centuries they generated power with the help of the wind and served as water pumps, mills and sawmills.

Kyiv. Open-air museum. Pyrohiv. A windmill

The surviving examples of these wooden structures, which were used for threshing grain, pumping water and sawing timber, have relocated to the expanses of the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv and stand on the broad heights of the historic locality of Pyrohiv, beside the museum displays of Podillia, the Poltava region and Polissia.

And only about a hundred years ago they stood in every region of our breadbasket country, in the villages whose people grew grain. The power of air currents was harnessed to drive machinery as far back as the age of antiquity. Windmills have been known in Ukraine since the times of Kyivan Rus, and in the Middle Ages they were widespread everywhere from the Carpathians to Slobozhanshchyna.

Boreas winds and foehns, breezes and storms across the boundless steppes, on the slopes of mountains and valleys, turned the blades of these tireless labourers, whose lower part is sturdy and steadfast while the upper is directed towards the sky.

Kyiv. Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. Pyrohiv. A windmill

There can be four, six or eight sails; they are mounted on a horizontal axle that sets a vertical shaft in motion. By means of a toothed gear, cogwheels and a millstone, the grain is ground. Paired stone wheels were made of sandstone and limestone, their surfaces crushing and grinding the grain into flour or groats.

The wooden parts were greased with lard. Some structures reached the height of a four-storey building — 10 to 12 metres. Ukrainian mechanics were masters of their craft and built one of the most essential devices of the farming trade not only at their own homes but also on other peasant holdings.

In the 19th and 20th centuries two types of windmill were built — the post mill, in which the body of the structure turned around a post dug into the ground according to the wind direction, and the tower mill, which allowed only the upper part, with the sails and shaft, to rotate.

When needed, the rotation was slowed and stopped by means of a brake. Most often the mill had living quarters for its owner, who had to work tirelessly once a new harvest came in. No one ever quarrelled with the miller, and his daughter was considered an enviable bride. Many proverbs were composed about the miller and his honourable trade. "The miller does not steal; people give of their own accord."

People came to the mills on foot and by cart as if to a fair — some with a little bundle, some on a wagon laden with sacks. For the grinding they paid roughly a tenth of the order. While waiting their turn, they talked about the matters of everyday life, discussed current affairs, struck deals over the buying and selling of land and over matchmaking. While the miller carefully inspected the grain, ground it and handed the flour back to its owner, fateful decisions were being made beside the windmills.

Built on hilltops and resembling watchtowers, they served as landmarks along the roads and as a measure of distances. On festive days, especially at Maslenitsa, folk festivities were held around them.

When electric motors and diesel engines replaced wind power, the windmills gradually began to fall into ruin and disappear. The sails of those gathered at Pyrohiv have long since ceased to cut through the air. These symbols of Ukrainian landscapes and monuments of folk monumental architecture are in need of restoration.

Coordinates: 50°21'20"N 30°30'45"E

Address: Kyiv, the village of Pyrohiv.

Phone: +380 44 5262416

Opening hours: daily 10:00 — 17:00; day off — Wednesday.