Lesní mlýn

Lesní mlýn ("Forest Mill", German: Lessmühle) is a historic mill site on the outskirts of the town of Planá in the Tachov district of western Bohemia, Czech Republic. Its name reflects its original setting outside the built-up town, surrounded by woodland — a common landscape feature in this part of the Plzeň Region, close to the well-known spa town of Mariánské Lázně.

Where is Lesní mlýn located?

Historical town records place the mill roughly a quarter of an hour's walk from the center of Planá. The town itself sits in the western Bohemian borderlands, in the hill country between the Český les (Bohemian Forest) and Slavkovský les ranges, an area historically threaded with small streams that powered numerous local watermills serving the surrounding villages and towns.

What is known about its history?

Lesní mlýn appears in a surviving 1838 register of the Planá town estate as one of several mills administratively assigned to the town while physically standing "na samotě" — as an isolated holding outside the main settlement. The same register lists other mills belonging to Planá, confirming that the area around the town was dotted with small milling operations in the 19th century, typical of the agrarian economy of the time.

Publicly available sources do not preserve details about the mill's owners, its technical equipment, or the exact watercourse that powered it. Many small mills in this Czech-German border region shared a common fate: after the postwar expulsion of the German population in 1945 and the subsequent depopulation of the border villages, such mills gradually lost their economic function and either fell into ruin or disappeared from the landscape altogether.

What remains of the mill today?

The present-day condition of Lesní mlýn near Planá is not well documented in available tourist or heritage-conservation sources. It should not be confused with a much better-known site of a similar name — the former Lesní mlýn hotel (later known as Donbas) in nearby Mariánské Lázně, which is a separate building with its own distinct history and location.

Frequently asked questions

Can Lesní mlýn near Planá be visited? No confirmed information about public access is available — existing sources do not describe its current condition or use.

How far is Lesní mlýn from the center of Planá? Historical town records place it about a quarter of an hour's walk from the town.

Is this the same mill as the famous Lesní mlýn hotel in Mariánské Lázně? No. These are two distinct sites with a similar name in neighboring towns and should not be confused.

In which region is Planá located? In the Tachov district of the Plzeň Region in western Bohemia, close to the spa town of Mariánské Lázně.