The largest waterfall in Saxony, and one of the highest waterfalls in Germany north of the Alps, is found near the village of Blauenthal. In 1530 Andreas Blau purchased an old flour- and saw mill on this site and converted it into a hammer mill. After the First World War, the owner of what was then a paper factory dug a new service trench above a steep rock wall to divert water to power its turbines. On Sundays and public holidays the machines are turned off and the water plunges into the valley below.