Eftimie Murgu

Eftimie Murgu (formerly known as Rudăria) is a village in the Banat highlands, known for the watermills on the Rudăria valley.

Understand
An English language article about the watermills of Rudăria can be found here.

Get in
The best way to get there is by driving a car.

See


The village is known for the watermills, which have been continuously used for hundreds of years. Before 1955, more than 50 watermills were in operation. A flood in 1955 left only 22 watermills, which continued to operate until the fall 2014, when most of them were destroyed by another flood. Today, only a handful of watermills still operate. The watermills of Rudăria are interesting not only from an engineering perspective, but also from a social perspective. From the very beginning and until today, all watermills were collectively owned, in a way similar to joint-stock companies: each mill has two dozen or so "shareholders" which are responsible with the maintenance, and can use the mill once a month, when their timeshare is due. "Selling" one's stock is possible, but the existing shareholders have a preferential right to acquire it - selling to outsiders can only be done when none of the existing shareholders wants the share. Each mill also has a "chief" (called pecter), which is elected for life. He holds the key to the mill.

All mills have names, some of them are: