Dutch Life
My journey to Zaanse Schans in Holland was a flavour of authentic Dutch lifestyle
Windmills and Holland are synonymous, like pyramids in Egypt or Eiffel Tower in Paris. On seeing the picture of a windmill you surmise yourself in Holland. Windmills are a unique feature of this country. I was more curious about windmills than tulips when I landed at Amsterdam Schiphol International airport in the month of May. It was an early morning flight and riding a taxi to Purmerend, a serene neighbourhood north of Amsterdam, we were enjoying the scenery when we suddenly spotted the first windmill in the country side. It was really exciting to see them in actuality. During the forty odd minutes drive to our hotel we could see a windmill every few minutes, studded in the Dutch landscape.
Our hotel was some twenty minutes bus ride from the Amsterdam central station and the famous windmill village of Zaanse Schans was another nine km further north. The Netherlands is a small country and every place worth a visit is within few hours driving distance which is very convenient for the tourists. We had earmarked a week day for a trip to the famous windmill village on river Zaan and the nearby traditional fishing towns of Volendam and Makren with a local Pakistani friend who came all the way from south of Holland to drive us through the fascinating Dutch countryside of polders and canals to see the windmills, the iconic image of the Netherlands.
Northern Holland has a collection of well preserved historic windmills, and houses a popular tourist attraction of the region, the Windmill Village on the banks of river Zaan. This important waterway, located in the centuries old peat district, originated as a natural drain for the surrounding marshy peat area and developed into an industrial district, believed to be the oldest in Europe, with over one thousand windmills established on its banks. Zaanse Schans is a delightful old hamlet on the banks of this river with characteristic green wooden houses, charming stylized gardens, small hump backed bridges, tradesmen’s workshops, historic windmills and engaging little shops. This enchanting hamlet gives an excellent impression of how a typical Zaanse village must have looked like in the 17th and 18th centuries. Apart from the cluster of windmills and traditional green wooden houses there are also several museums, restaurants and clog and cheese factories. Zaanse Schans has become one of the top tourist destinations in the Netherlands that gives a feeling of having stepped back into the 17th and 18th centuries.
This hamlet has not always existed since most of the buildings now seen here were relocated from other areas in the Zaan streak in the 1960’s and 70’s, as owing to urban development they were under threat of obliteration. To quote one example; De Kat, an oil mill which was ravaged by fire in 1782, was rebuilt soon after by placing the top of De Duinjager, a sniff mill, on what remained of the former and the combination of the two started operation in 1960 reincarnating as a dyeing mill.
Increasing trade and industry in Amsterdam at the end of the 16th century created the need for the development of industrial windmills in the flat Zaanse Schans landscape. The application of crank shaft revolutionized the development of industrial windmills in the Netherlands and a wood sawing mill was the first one to be commissioned in 1594. Over the centuries more than one thousand wind powered factories flourished along the river Zaan and the surrounding country side. On the turn of the 18th century approximately seven hundred windmills were in operation in this area for wood sawing, hulling and threshing grains and producing seed and nut oil, paint, sniff and mustard. Out of this big number now only twelve remain, five of them on Zaan River; namely mustard, wood sawing, paint and a couple of oil mills. For the interest of the readers it is pertinent to mention here that in its hay days there were two hundred saw mills of which now only two are preserved.
This area is not just an open museum but a colourful living and working neighbourhood with windmills in the fore ground and modern factories on the horizon. With the advent of steam age the wind powered mills were fast losing their economic importance and disappearing in the clouds of history and an important culture of Zaanse Schans was facing oblivion. A Windmill Preservation and Conservation Society was formed in 1925, indigenously responsible for their preservation, mainly for the purpose of tourism. A Windmill Museum was also established in 1928 which gives an excellent illustration of industrial progression in the Zaanstreek. Some of the houses in this district have been converted to museums, shops and centres for old-fashioned crafts while others remain ill-inhabited.
A visit to a working industrial windmill was undoubtedly a unique experience. They are open all the year round and the entry to the Windmill Village is free, so to say, but one has to pay two Euros to enter a windmill to see its working. On the day of our visit De Kat, the paint mill, was open to tourists. Producing pigments for the artists, it was a gigantic structure consisting of three floors and a large terrace overlooking the river. There was a large collection of paints and its raw material, with the history and chemistry details inscribed side by side. The grinding stones were a pair of huge round mass that was in operation making a loud creaky sound. There was a very steep ladder to the top floor which made descending somewhat scary. It was a nice panoramic view of the river from the vast terrace of the windmill, and the giant blades to capture the wind power were a treat to watch. One felt like a Lilliputian in front of these giant blades. Being too windy out there we could not stay in the open for too long.
The other attractions in the Windmill Village, besides a museum, were clog and cheese factories, a typical hump backed bridge and a number of souvenir shops. Moving out of the Windmill Village we drove further north to the medieval town of Edam and the traditional fishermen’s village of Volendam. This small village, with beautiful cobble stone streets, was very surreal and indigenously Dutch. These streets make it different from the vibrant Amsterdam or other European cities, lending it a flavour of the countryside. The locals in the village wear traditional wooden shoes and colourful dresses especially on carnivals. We enjoyed the visit to the village which was so insanely quaint that we had to leave it with a heavy heart. We got a good insight into many aspects of the Dutch life at the villages of Zaanse Schans and Volendam, and a scenic drive back to Purmerend through the picturesque Dutch country side left indelible marks on us for a long time.
Written by Dr. Shahid Qayyum
Published by Alisha Khuram
