Kriemhildmühle, Xanten

The Kriemhildmühle is a historic windmill in Xanten and the only mill of the Lower Rhine, which is operated daily.

The mill was built as part of the Xanten town fortifications in the form of a watch and defense tower at the end of the 14th century. The towers, which were severely damaged in the Thirty Years' War that lasted until 1648, served as living quarters for city servants until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. Thus, the Kriemhildmühle was called the night watchman's tower at that time, since the night watchmen of the city were quartered there.

In the following period, the towers were sold for reasons of cost and largely demolished by the buyers. In 1778, the night watchman tower was sold to the merchant Gerhard Schleß, who had the walls of the tower renovated and installed a summer house in the tower. In 1804 he converted the tower into an oil mill in the form of a 19.3 m high windmill. Soon after, he sold the mill to a miller, whereupon the Kriemhildmühle became a flour mill and later became the property of the town of Xanten. In 1843, the demolition of the mill and the nearby Klever Tor was rejected by the Xanten town council, after large parts of the town fortifications had already been demolished earlier.

Since 1992, bread is baked again in the mill and sold directly there as well as at weekly markets in the area. The mill can be visited during opening hours.

The wings of the mill are equipped with a sail creel mechanism of old Dutch type. Since 1992 the wings are equipped with a fokwiek according to the patent of the Dutchman P.L. Fauël.

The Kriemhild mill owes its name to Kriemhild from the Nibelungen saga. A mill bearing the name of Siegfried von Xanten also existed, but it is no longer in operation.