Nicolae Titulescu Square 8
It was built in 1869, when the Steam Mill Society of Banat was founded. Since 1880 it became a subsidiary of the mills "Elisabeta" in Budapest, until 1909, when it was bought by the famous family of industrialists Prohaska from Timisoara.
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On the banks of the Bega, in Iosefin, many mills were built, one of which has been partially preserved to this day (probably it will soon also disappear), a large and beautiful building on the N. Titulescu pier, near the former Electromotor factory. At the time it was the largest mill in the city, first called "Elizabeta", then "Bega". It was also known as the Mechanical Mill of Timișoara.
It was built in 1869, when the Steam Mill Society of Banat was founded but the building originally built was smaller than the one the Timisoara people know. From 1880 it became a subsidiary of the mills "Elisabeta" in Budapest, until 1909, when it was bought by the famous family of industrialists from Timișoara Prohaska, whose property it was until 1926. Some people from Timisoara still call it „The mill Prohaska ”. They were the ones who expanded the building, built an upper floor on it and built two-storey warehouses.
At the beginning of the last century, the 25 mill workers were processing 15 grain wagons daily. Built right on the shore of Bega, the mill had its own dock, because the water transport was cheap, and on the Bega-Tisza-Danube channel the merchandise used to reach Central Europe. Also in those years a kilometer of industrial railway was built, which linked the mill to the Iosefin railway station in order to transport as much of the processed cereals as possible. It is a first sign that the river transport on the Bega Canal passed on the second plane. In the inter-war period the mill had 300 employees and 45 officials. Processing over 6,000 grain wagons annually (600,000 quintals of flour and other products) and half of the production was exported mainly to Bosnia, Herzegovina, Germany, the Netherlands, England, France and Switzerland, but also to the Old Kingdom and the USA.
Today, the old mill became the property of Tender Imobiliare. It is an abandoned building, partially demolished.
More details about the building can be found by accessing the dedicated web page of the cultural project Heritage of Timisoara. The mill can also be visited within the the City and Water tour. The Bega canal shores, organized by the crew from the Architectural Tour.
Listen to the audio version.
Elisabeta groundmill – The mill for everyday’s bread
Liana Maria Gombosoiu, Valeria Dr. Pintea. A family novel. Marineasa Publishing House, Timişoara, 2013, p. 145-146
Grandmother never abdicated in any way from the protocol of the three daily meals. How many time spent by then for the simplest moments of life…The apron, with embroideries or laces on the edges, always starched, was being changed each time it happened to be spilled, everybody had its own linen napkin, surrounded by a silver ring, clean plates were brought for each course of the meal. On the table, the small basket with slim pieces of bread, salt, pepper, cure-dents, the colored beads pad for hot dishes, the carafe with water and the vase with flowers were never missing…
For a while, Buna stood at the head of the table and, before touching food, the old woman mumbled with her kind voice thanks for “everyday’s bread”, she made the sign of the cross and through her extremely blue eyes a wave of humble joy passed. Later, her place was taken by Mama Mi. Everything was so calm and beautiful…
