Power Plant Museum

Pisek is a town of about 30,000 people built around an ancient stone bridge over the River Otava. One of its distinctions is that it was the first town in the Czech lands to have electric street lighting. An electrical engineer František Křižik first provided lighting from generators driven by a portable steam engine, but in 1881 he adapted the waterwheels of the town corn mill to power the generators. From 1901 the waterwheels were replaced by turbines. Pisek was subsequently provided with power by other means but in 1997 the turbines were reconstructed, together with other historic plant, and are again generating electricity. A small museum was established which tells the story of the plant, and includes a portable engine of the type first used to generate electricity in the town. The museum and power plant are managed from the Tourist Information Centre.