Kamšt is located in Mejca Park beside the Idrijca River and just a ten-minute walk from the bust station. The imposing and technically improved pumping apparatus was installed in 1790 close to the newly constructed Joseph’s Shaft. The spade-shaped wheel with a diameter of 13.6 meters, and positioned in the monumental brick building, is reputed to be the largest wooden wheel in Europe. Around the year 1600, the Idrijca River was dammed at Kobila above the Wild Lake, and a 3.5 km long channel (called “Rake”) was constructed to ensure the undisturbed flow of water and provide the needed power for the wheels. This wheel complex (“kamšt”) pumped approximately 400 litres of water per minute, first from a depth of 235 meters (9th horizon), a later even from a depth of 283 meters (11th horizon). This device operated almost ceaselessly and in unchanged form for a record breaking 158 years (until the flooding in 1948).
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