One of the most important landmarks of the anabaptist court in Sobotište is a water mill, called Upper or Haban. After their arrival in Sobotište, the anabaptists bought the unfinished mill building from the landlord Kliment Papp in 1546 as part of a desolate grange lying outside the village. Then they lived and managed it for more than four centuries. After the downfall of the mill in the brotherly court in Veľké Leváre, Sobotište one became the last preserved mill of anabaptists in Slovakia. Nowadays it belongs to important monuments of architectural and technical value and it is evidence of professional knowledge of miller´s craft.
The anabaptists in Sobotište had three mills. The first one was located directly in the fraternal court (Upper Mill), then it was the mills in Dolina and Trávniky. The upper mill of the anabaptists has the form of a longitudinal building with a front facade oriented to the former square, which is closed by the town hall and bellhouse. The main facade with white strip framing is finished with a pike roof gable. The mill drive is oriented along the western facade, where were wooden wheels. The water mill with an overhead drive was created by indirection of the Malina stream. The remains of the inflow and outflow canals have been preserved in close proximity to the peripheral masonry of the mill. Today’s exterior appearance of the mill is the result of a reconstruction from 1739. From this period, the building has retained the disposition and layout of the interior and bearing wooden elements. Younger modification took place in 1816.
During its operation, the mill was in the joint ownership of the village of the anbaptists, who leased it, the profit was transferred to the common treasury. The last tenant of the mill was a descendant of anabaptists Štefan Baumgartner with his wife Antonia Baumgartner maiden named Sedláčková. After nationalization in the 1950s the mill was partially used as a warehouse and carpentry workshop. Significant construction work in the 20th century was not carried out after 1945. During the second half of the 20th century the mill was not used and deteriorated.
As a result of artistic and historical research, it was declared a National Cultural Monument in 1963. In 1999, it became part of a renowned monument zone. One year later, the basic static security was made and a new truss construction was made in the form of a copy. Through the cross-border program Interreg V-A SK-CZ and the project “In the Footsteps of Habans”, a comprehensive mill restoration was launched in 2017, including a monument restoration and a museum presentation of the former mill building with the aim in order to bring the history of the court and the life of the anabaptists in Sobotište.
