The Kretinga Manor Watermill

In 1672, when Kazimieras Jonas Povilas Sapiega was ruling the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, an inventory list for the manor was compiled. It noted all of the objects that were present in the manor, including the wooden watermill. In 1771, another list was compiled, this time by the County of Kretinga, which also listed an old watermill near the manor dam.
In the end of the 19th century, Count Juozapas Tiškevičius organised the reconstruction of the watermill, adding a red brick fachwerk superstructure to the entire project. The new addition was the first hydro-power plant of Lithuania. Its main purpose was to generate power for the manor and the Winter Garden.
In 1878, the Count also organised the construction of the manor workshop. The tools and equipment kept therein were powered by the watermill. During the interwar period, the building served several other functions, housing an oil factory, called Oelit, a honey and syrup workshop called Šatrija, and a sweets shop.
The rectangular building has two floors and is rather compact. The watermill had several other outbuildings, but they did not survive the wars. Renovation works were started in 2001. It took two years to rebuild the watermill. Almost ten years later, the windmill underwent another reconstruction. This time it was being converted into an ethnographic exhibition for the Kretinga Museum, entitled By the Solar Cross. An educational classroom and exhibition hall were set up in the cellars of the watermill.
It is a state-protected cultural heritage. It belongs to the complex of the Kretinga Manor.

Source: www.kretingosenciklopedija.lt