Windmills at Kinderdijk

The windmills at Kinderdijk capture the essence of the past.

The windmills at Kinderdijk are a set of 19 windmills that are located in South Holland, in the Netherlands, in Europe.
The UNESCO World Heritage Convention listed the windmills at Kinderdijk as a World Heritage Site in 1997, as part of the mill network at Kinderdijk-Elshout.
The windmills at Kinderdijk were built to manage the water levels, that are below sea level, and drainage of soil near the Lek River and Noord River, after a failed attempt using canals.
Almost all of the windmills at Kinderdijk were constructed from 1738 to 1740, and depending on the windmill, they are mostly made from various combinations of stone, brick, wood and thatching.
Stations that are run by diesel fuel have since replaced the windmills at Kinderdijk for pumping water, although the windmills are kept in working condition for backup purposes and for tourism.

The uppermost section of the windmills at Kinderdijk can rotate in a full circle, to catch wind at maximum efficiency.
The windmills at Kinderdijk were in proper operation during World War II, when fuel was too scarce to be used in the stations.
As of 2015, more than 450,000 visitors came to view the windmills at Kinderdijk each year, and they are operated during the summer for the sake of the tourists.
The windmills at Kinderdijk ran into financial difficulty in 2012, due to the costs incurred in running the mills and renovations that were being undertaken, while tourism is the main income generating activity for the mills.
There are various ways of seeing the windmills at Kinderdijk, and these include walking, cycling, and cruising on the water; and there is a mill museum which is open to the public.

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