How many mills are there in Holland? Dutch windmills are a symbol of the fight against the sea. fight against the sea

Holland. Accents, associations, the brightest strokes - the first thing that came to mind.
Eternal reveler, relaxed Amsterdam with its canals and “Red” districts. Almost unexpected love for Rotterdam. Admiration for the scale of the battle with water for every meter of land. The gentle sun warms you on the sandy beach of The Hague under the lapping waves of the North Sea. Regret about the failure with Dutch herring (it turns out that it is advisable to come to Holland in June for this). Wooden shoes at every step. Huge colorful fields of tulips. And, of course, windmills - there are more than a thousand of them in Holland.

They say that there is even a special holiday in this country - Mill Day (Miller's Day) - every second Saturday in May, 600 water and windmills open their doors to visitors throughout the country. Nowadays, mills are perceived as a symbolic Dutch pastoral, a decoration and a magnet for attracting tourists, but there was a time for them to work - grinding, sawing, but most importantly - draining spaces and pumping out water. So, with their help, man used the power of nature for good.

One of the places where tourists come to see mills against the backdrop of a typical Dutch landscape is the village of Kinderdijk.

I read on one of the sites: “The motto on the coat of arms of the Netherlands reads: “I fight and swim!”
You can't say it more precisely. The whole essence of Dutch life for many centuries.
By the 11th century, the Dutch began to run out of land. At first they fought for land using canals and dams, but later they learned to use wind energy and entire systems of pumps driven by windmills. Dozens of mills pumped water from canal to canal, eventually diverting it behind dams. This is how additional land arose, or in the words of Voltaire, “God created the earth, and the Dutch added Holland to it.”

So I’m going to Kinderdijk to see nineteen working mills. On a ship, along the river.
Water transport in the Netherlands is very important. Ferries, boats, water buses and even taxis in cities are common ways of transporting passengers, a Dutch everyday occurrence. And for us who come, this is also an opportunity to see Holland from a slightly different angle - from the water.

You can travel from Rotterdam to Kinderdijk by boat. You need to look for a berth not far from the Erasmus Bridge. I got a pleasure boat, delivering to the place, waiting and returning back. All the fun cost 15 euros.

There was a bar on board, and green tea and apple pie were found at the bar just in time.

At first, the passengers settled on the deck and did not have time to freeze.

The ship moves slowly around Rotterdam, huge barges and smaller vessels float past, and all this between the carefully fortified banks of the river.
Forest areas were also no exception.
It was not in vain, not in vain, that Peter I studied with the Dutch.

The boat ride to Kinderdijk took a little over an hour.
By the middle of the journey, the most persistent ones, those who were not afraid of the wind or the happy owners of hats, remained on the deck.
Soon the wind and rain completely drove the audience inside.

Arrived at the pier. The ferry in the photo transports passengers and cars from one shore to the other.

The mill village itself, marked by UNESCO, is about fifteen minutes from the pier at a brisk pace.
But we must take into account that it may not work out quickly; you are constantly distracted to photograph something from the surrounding “cuteness”.

Nineteen Kinderdijk windmills were built around 1740 at the confluence of the Nord and Lek rivers.
The main purpose of the local windmills was to regulate the water level in the river.
The mills themselves served as both a place of work and housing for local residents of Kinderdijk.

In 1997, Kinderdijk was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The word "Kinderdijk" is translated from Dutch as "children's dam". They say that the village received this name in memory of an event that occurred during a flood in 1421. The storm subsided, a cradle washed ashore, and in it people found a peacefully sleeping baby.

The mills in Kinderdijk are called "polder" mills. A polder is land reclaimed from water, drained and cultivated. Polders are located below sea level, so mills are needed to drain them. Such polders make up a decent part of the territory of the Netherlands. This is about the hard work, ingenuity of the Dutch and their painstaking creation of their country.

The inhabitants of Holland needed a water level control system to protect the land from flooding. To get rid of excess water from the Alblasserwaard polder, to which Kinderdijk belongs, artificial canals were dug. But later the channels became insufficient. A new way to keep polders dry was the construction of windmills. With their help, water was pumped and held in an internal basin between the level of the polders and the water level of the river.

But this is a glorious past, and the present of the Kinderdijk mills is to delight with the very fact of its existence.
Walking along the central paths is free, and you can get inside one of the mills.
Ticket price - 6 euros (April 2014).
You can approach the desired mill via a bridge.

They say that in winter the Kinderdijk canals freeze and become a natural skating rink.
Until the 20th century, skating along frozen canals was the easiest way to get from one point to another.
And why are the Dutch successes in speed skating not surprising?

And here are the insides of the “tourist” mill.
Melnik and his family.

Everyday details of the life of the miller's family.

The whole life of the mill boils around a constantly rotating central pillar.
On the top floor there is a mechanism that sets the restless pillar in motion. You can see through the iron mesh.

Middle floor, beds in closets and other details.

Ground floor.
Kitchen, dining room, bedroom - in the complex.

Long winter evenings.

They say that by the position of the mill wings, neighbors could find out what was happening in the miller’s family. If nothing extraordinary, after completing the work, the miller stopped the mill wings in the position of a straight cross - one wing parallel to the ground, the other perpendicular. The tilt of the wings could mean an addition to the family or the death of loved ones.

In the meantime, I examined everything and moved towards the exit.
And people still live in the mills, but this is a completely different story, closed from prying prying eyes.

A bicycle path runs along the canal.

You can also take a boat ride along the canal.

The time has come to leave Kinderdijk and on the way to the pier again look at the quiet, calm, not in a hurry of Holland.

Why are there so many mills in Holland??? and got the best answer

Answer from Oriy Chernov[guru]
Having learned in time immemorial to use the power of the wind, man radically changed his relationship with the world. With the advent of the sail, the world became small. With the advent of the windmill - the mill - it became more changeable. Previously, it was not possible for a person to saw huge logs, grind hard mineral rock into powder to make paints, and simply grind enough flour and press oil was not easy. By entrusting this work to mills, in the distant 13th century the Dutch brought the construction of houses and ships, textile production, and food production to a new level.
Residents of the Netherlands have never expected favors from nature. Having learned to use the power of the wind, they were faced with a problem - they had to do the work day after day, and the changeable wind did not always blow in the right direction. Do you think they've come to terms with this kind of volatility? No matter how it is! Dutch engineers began to build mills with rotating towers - such towers could be rotated, choosing the most efficient position of the wings in relation to the wind.
The Netherlands have long been one of the most densely populated countries in Europe - already in the 11th century they began to run out of land, every piece of arable land counted. It would seem that nothing can be done about this circumstance; the Lord created as much earth as He created, and there is nowhere to take a new earth from. But no - in the 16th century, the Dutchman Jan Ligwater found a way to increase the land area - again with the help of a wind engine.
By this time, the Dutch already knew how to drain wetlands using trenches and dams, but they could not cope with deep water - they needed a system of powerful pumps. Ligwater proposed creating wind pumps by connecting the shafts of mills with an Archimedes screw. However, it turned out that single pumps would not raise water to the required height, so he developed a sequential pumping system. Ligwater proposed building entire systems of parallel canals. Dozens of mills would pump the water from canal to canal, eventually diverting it behind a dam that surrounded the drained area.
This is how land arose, which was not provided for by the plan of creation of the world - or, in the words of Voltaire, “God created the earth, and the Dutch added Holland to it.” The scale of this addition is impressive even by modern standards - over the past six hundred years, the territory of the Netherlands has increased by 10%.
Before the invention of the steam engine, thousands of mills operated in the Netherlands. Each village had its own mill, or even several, and by the position of the mill wings, neighbors could always find out what was going on in the miller’s family. If nothing special happened, then, having finished the work, the miller stopped the mill wings in the position of a straight cross - one wing parallel to the ground, the other perpendicular. The indirect position of the wings spoke of some event. The tilt of the wings to one side showed that the miller had an addition to his family; tilting in the other direction meant the death of one of the family members. It is said that during World War II, members of the Dutch resistance used windmills to tell British planes where the Germans were.
link

Answer from 2 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Why are there so many mills in Holland???

Answer from Iolanta[guru]
Because it stands on the shores of the North Sea and the winds often blow, and they also sacredly honor their traditions, my neighbor has a working one, he runs it for foreign tourists... And where am I from near Utrecht

Answer from Funny Man[guru]
They were previously used to pump out the water that constantly floods the Netherlands, which lies mostly below sea level.

(Kinderdijk) is a village in the province of South Holland, located about 15 km east of Rotterdam. Around 1740, a system of 19 windmills was built here, which is currently the largest concentration of ancient windmills in the country. For a long time, the inhabitants of the Netherlands needed a developed water level management system in order to protect large areas from flooding, because... some parts of the country are below sea level. In order to get rid of excess water, a large number of artificial canals were dug. However, while the drained soil was just beginning to harden, river levels rose due to river sand. After a few centuries, a new way of keeping the polders dry was needed. In connection with this, it was decided to build a series of windmills capable of pumping water and holding it in the internal basin at an intermediate level between the level of polders (low-lying and marshy sea areas of the coast) and the water level in the river. Complete control over the water level was never achieved. Kinderdijk was flooded more than once due to broken dams.

The very name of the village "Kinderdijk" is translated from Dutch as "children's dam". In 1421, during the St. Elizabeth's flood, the polder area was partially flooded. They said that when the terrible storm subsided, people went to see what had survived and saw a cradle floating in the water. When the cradle floated to the shore, it was discovered that it was completely dry inside, and moreover, the child was quietly sleeping in it. Today Kinderdijk is one of Holland's most popular tourist attractions and in 1997 the site was listed by UNESCO.

Kinderdijk is located only 20 kilometers from Polsbroek, but driving around numerous rivers and canals along village roads takes a lot of time, so we took the advice of the farm owner and did not go around the water obstacles through Rotterdam, but crossed to the mill valley by ferry.

The terminal station is called "Krimpen aan de Lek", you can see the coordinates on this website. Ferry number 6 runs every 13 minutes, but I don’t remember the cost of the crossing and couldn’t find it online.

Entrance to the territory is free, but you have to pay to see the mills from the inside (adults - 6, children - 4 €). Opening hours: from 09:00 to 18:00. On Saturday, almost all the mills are open, but there are many more people. More detailed information can be found on the official Kinderdijk website. The complex itself, as you can judge from the map, is not very large and can be walked around in a couple of hours.

In addition, a boat floats between the rows of mills. We decided to rent bicycles.

There are bicycle parking lots near the mills, which are open to the public.

The first windmills, which appeared in the mid-13th century, were used not only for pumping water, but also for grinding grain, sawing wood, squeezing oil, and processing tobacco and cocoa.

We were lucky with the weather. The sun was mostly shining brightly and only occasionally hid behind the clouds.

Among the different designs, wooden polder mills predominate. Usually they are 8-gonal, less often 6- or 12-gonal. Their top is rotated by an outer lever to orient the wings. In windmills with a rotating top, the wings themselves turn against the wind.

One of the mills you can go into.

Panorama (clickable)

Some mills are still inhabited by people.

Having ridden around the valley of mills to our heart's content, we go to the next planned place - the Corpus Museum of the Human Body, located near the university city of Leiden. The unique museum is a 35-meter tall seated figure built into a seven-story building. The entrance to the museum is through the giant's knee, and the exit is near the head. Inside, visitors move on platforms and elevators past internal organs, seeing muscles, bones, heart, kidneys, digestive organs, lungs, ears, eyes and brain. Entrance by groups at a certain hour, the tour lasts 55 minutes. During this time, processes and sounds occurring in the body are simulated (not in Hebrew, there was only Russian) where the group is located, it is shown what happens when a person is injured, and on the screens you can see the work of organs. The children were wildly delighted (especially in the intestines when a person farted :-)), and the adults found it interesting and educational. Entrance is not cheap: adults - 17 €, children - 15 €, but it’s a little cheaper through the website. I highly recommend visiting this wonderful museum, just keep in mind that children over 6 years old are allowed entry only. I don't have a photo of the inside, because... I read somewhere that you can’t take pictures and recklessly left the camera in the car. As it turned out, in vain. Law-abiding Europeans clicked their shutters with all their might, not paying any attention to the prohibitory signs...

We ended the day in the town of Leiden. First of all, Leiden is known for one of the oldest universities in Europe, which was founded in 1575. Secondly, such world-famous artists as Luke of Leiden, Jan Steen and Rembrandt were born here. And thirdly, it’s just a beautiful city with canals, which we passed by anyway on the way to the farm :-)

Saturday evening streets on the outskirts of the city were completely empty.

Only closer to the center did people begin to appear, mostly sitting in restaurants located along the canals.

After dinner and a walk along the canals, tired but happy, we returned to Polsbroek.

On the way from Amsterdam to Bruges, we passed by Rotterdam and stopped in the town of Kinderdijk.

Almost half of the territory of the Netherlands (Holland) was reclaimed from water using dams and windmills that operated pumps to pump out water and drain areas near the dams.

Around 1740, a system of 19 windmills was built in Kinderdijk to drain the polders (drained and cultivated low-lying areas of the coast). This group of mills is currently the largest concentration of ancient windmills in the Netherlands. The windmills in Kinderdijk are one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Netherlands.

The system didn't work very well. Periodically the land was flooded. By the way, in 1927, a diesel pumping station was built in place of the mills. And during the Second World War, the mills again served for the benefit of the Netherlands - there was not enough fuel for the station.

Please note that all mills have a rotating tower to have maximum efficiency regardless of wind direction.

But all of Kinderdijk's mills are inoperative. As you can see in the photo, there is no stretched material on the blades. Mills in working order can be viewed in Zaanstad.

Windmills of Zaanstad

As I already wrote, we tried to get to Zaanstad on bicycles, but by the will of fate we did not succeed, and we got to this tourist center by car. Zaanstad is notable for the fact that there is an open-air museum Zaanse Schans, one one of the best places in the Netherlands to see windmills in working order.

The production activity of the town is mainly due to the presence of wind and the mills of the 17th century were modern factories. In the old days, there were about 1000 (!!!) mills operating here, but only 13 have survived to this day. Many mills are still in operation today! On one they grind mustard, on the other cocoa beans. The mill's products can be purchased directly from the windmill building itself.

All parts of the mill are made of wood. By the way, the mills have a turning tower! It serves to rotate the blades at the optimal angle to the wind and get maximum performance.

The town of Zaanse Schans is also famous for the fact that the Russian Tsar, the innovator Peter I, studied shipcraft there. The house in which the Tsar lived was made of wood, but is currently clad in a stone structure. Unfortunately, we didn’t get there yet. But Peter the Great lived in it for only a week. By the way, one of the reasons why Holland became a powerful maritime power is that one master came up with the idea of ​​using mills to make boards for the production of ships. Allegedly this reduced the cost of building ships by 40 times!!!

Around the mills there are pastures on which various animals graze. Pastoral paintings everywhere you look. Just have time to click the shutter. By the way, Zaanstad was, and remains to this day, an industrial center; in the background of the photographs, not far from the tourist spot, you can see modern factories.

All in all, this is another must-visit place in Holland. Theoretically, in the absence of strong winds and good weather, you can get there from Amsterdam by bicycle.

Kinderdijk (originally Kinderdijk) is a small cozy village in the Netherlands. It gained worldwide fame thanks to the ancient windmills that were built here in the 18th century, but are still in operation.

Where is Kinderdijk?

The village is nestled 10 km southeast of Rotterdam and 60 km from Amsterdam at the confluence of the rivers Noord (from the west) and Lek (from the north).

Geographic coordinates 51.884643, 4.639409

Why are there windmills here?

The mills in Kinderdijk are not used quite for our usual purpose. They do not produce flour, but pump water.

As you know, the name Netherlands means “low lands”. In other words, large areas of the country lie below sea level. Of course, not like the Dead Sea, but still. There is always a possibility of flooding.

To reduce the water level, windmills were built in the area. They pump water from the polders into the sea.

Polders are drained, low-lying areas that often lie below sea level. In addition, these are extremely fertile lands.

To drain the land, a system of 19 mills was built from 1738 to 1740. They pumped out water using wind energy to operate water pumps.

It is the largest collection of ancient windmills in the country and a popular tourist destination. Since 1997, they have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

A little history

Once upon a time, the Netherlands (or rather the modern two provinces known to us as Holland) was a powerful maritime power. Therefore, they tried to use all coastal lands. Many areas were protected by levees, but there was always a high probability of groundwater flooding.

In this region, problems with flooding became apparent as early as the 13th century, as the surrounding areas were marshy areas. Initially, large canals called “weteringen” were dug here. They helped reduce the water level in the polders, but they were not able to drain large areas. Only a few centuries later they decided to build a complex of mills for drainage.

At one time, there were about 150 windmills in the surrounding areas of Alblasserwaard and Wijfherlenland. In the 1870s, their number decreased to 78. Now only 28 of these mills remain in the entire region. 19 of them are concentrated in the village of Kinderdijk.

In 1868, the steam engine came to the aid of windmills. In 1924, steam engines were replaced by diesel engines.

Although the windmills were replaced with more efficient diesel pumps, they are still in good condition. This is a backup option in case of breakdown of diesel pumps. But the last time they were used for their intended purpose was during the Second World War. Then the diesel pumps did not work due to fuel shortages.

Stone and wooden mills

Eight stone mills called Nederwaard were built in 1738. Wooden mills are called Overwaard. They were built in 1740. Nederwaard mills pump water from the lower polders into one reservoir, and Overwaard mills pump water from higher polders to another reservoir. Both reservoirs were previously used to drain water into the Lek River using special sluices. Today, modern pumping stations operate here.

The legend of the village of Kinderdijk

The name of the village can be translated as “children's dam.” An ancient legend is associated with the appearance of this name.

During the great flood of St. Elizabeth in November 1421, the polders were flooded. After the storm subsided, people decided to assess the damage and left their shelters. Approaching the water that flooded the surrounding area, they saw a cradle slowly floating. First, a cat appeared from it. She tried in every possible way to maintain the balance of her ship and gracefully jumped along the edges of the cradle. But imagine their surprise when it was discovered that a living baby was lying inside the absolutely dry cradle.

Such a miracle became a symbol of hope and life for local residents.

Kiederdijk mills in tourism

Now these places are quite famous among travelers. Sometimes in the summer the mills start working again. But only to demonstrate a kind of attraction to tourists.

One mill has a museum that introduces visitors to the working principle of mill water pumps. In addition, the mill is quite spacious. The family of miller Miller Hook lived there with thirteen children. You will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the life and way of life of this family.

In the visitor center you can see the old Visboom pumping station, which was replaced by the Overwaard pumping station in 1995. It uses impressive Archimedean screws to pump water.

You can take a pleasure boat ride around the reservoirs. The duration of the trip is up to half an hour.

But in winter, the reservoirs turn into an excellent skating rink.

Photographers will especially like the Kinderdijk mills, because they produce amazing and unique shots.