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What is Kinderdijk?

Kinderdijk Village in the Netherlands

Kinderdijk is a village in the South-Holland province of West Netherlands, part of Nieuw-Lekkerland and part of Alblaserdam, 15 km east of Rotterdam.

Kinderdijk sits at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers, and a system of 19 windmills was built in 1740 to drain the water. This group of old windmills is the largest system in the Netherlands. The Kinderdijk windmills have become one of the most well-known sights in the Netherlands and were inscribed on the UNESCO Heritage List in 1997.

Introduction

The “Kinderdijk” on the outskirts of Rotterdam is a place with many windmills in the Netherlands. 19 windmills are side by side, which is very spectacular. In fact, there is a little distance between each windmill. If you want to enjoy the scenery of the windmills, you can arrange a good time to enjoy the rural style of Kinderdijk. Legend has it that when a great flood occurred in the 15th century, a child sleeping in a cradle drifted here with a kitten, hence the name Kinderdijk.

Legend

Kinderdijk is named after a folklore. In 1421, the Netherlands was hit by terrible floods due to a storm that flooded parts of the province between South Holland and the Duchy of Brabant. Fortunately, the low fields in the nearby province of South Holland were protected. When the storm weakened, people went to the dykes in the disaster area to try to find survivors. They saw a wooden cradle floating in the distance, but no one was aware of the existence of life.

As the cradle floated near, a cat was seen inside the cradle, jumping back and forth to keep the cradle balanced and out of the water. When the cradle floated to the embankment, people hoisted the cradle and surprisingly found a child sleeping peacefully inside the cradle. In this way, this touching legend has been passed down to this day and has become part of the history of Kinderdijk.

History

The Kinderdijk Windmill Group was built in 1740. The purpose of the original construction was to discharge the accumulated water in low-lying areas below sea level. The runner was driven by the principle of wind to discharge the water, so that the surface would not be submerged by water, which protected the life of the early residents. ; For the Netherlands, which competes with the sea, two-thirds of its land is protected.

Due to technological progress, the world’s largest canal station has been established for water supply and drainage, replacing the function of windmills, and the remaining windmills are more precious; early The number of windmills in the country was as high as more than 10,000 at the time, but now there are only about 1,000, and the number of windmills in Kinderdijk is the most dense.

Kinderdijk and Zaanse Schans are quintessential examples of the Dutch landscape. This unique picture of a windmill landscape appears in every picture book about the Netherlands. In 1997, Kinderdijk Windmill Group was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and protected. It attracts many tourists every year to appreciate this special building and feel the leisurely country style of the Netherlands.

Travel

At Kinderdijk, 19 windmills are arranged in two rows facing each other. A row of circular brick windmills drains the Nederwaard area. Another row of octagonal windmills kept the Overwaard safe from extinction.

Of the 19 windmills, 17 are still in operation, and the remaining 2 will join the operation in July and August every year. The windmills standing on both sides of the river bank are lined up and are extremely spectacular; each windmill is as high as four or five stories high, and the huge leaves are more than 20 meters long. Apart from the axis, huge stone mill, tool room and grain storage, the rest of the living space is not large.

Kinderdijk is open to the public from April to September and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm. Every Saturday in July and August, these windmills turn.

Visitors can walk or bike along the river to enjoy the beautiful scenery of these 19 windmills, or they can enter the interior of the windmills, some of which are open to the public, which will give visitors a glimpse of the life of the former windmill owners and their families. realistic impression.