The Młyny Stave in Świnoujście is in the northern part of the city, at the end of the Western Breakwater, which is on the left (west) bank of the Świna River, which flows into the Baltic Sea here.
The stave is a navigation sign pointing to the water route leading along the Świna riverbed. The stave was established in 1873-1874 as part of fairway modernization. The designer of the stave was a construction counsellor Severin, he gave it the characteristic shape of a windmill. The building is 10 meters high and painted white. The stave is used all the time. From the sea, at its top, light pulses from dusk, it shows sailors the right way to the port. Thanks to its unwavering popularity, the stave has become part of the official logo of Świnoujście, and therefore it can be seen on postcards or covers of guides and folders.
There is a legend associated with the stave. In the old days, Świnoujście seamen returned from distant voyages exhausted and aged. The wife of one of them, Alicja, despairing with the appearance of her beloved Krzysztof, went at night to the seashore where she sobbed. Then she heard a voice telling her to go to a nearby windmill. An old miller lived there, and he recommended her to come with her husband the next day. The next day, the miller put mud on Krzysztof, ordered him to take a bath in the sea and go for walks. After a week, he took him to the windmill. Alicja's husband came out rejuvenated. The windmill was soon visited by other sailors. After the miller's death, it turned out that no one knows the secrets of his treatments, and the windmill's mechanism stopped. Nevertheless, people hungry for rejuvenation come to Świnoujście to splash themselves with mud, swim and walk.
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