On National Miller's Day, about 600 of the Netherlands' existing 1,000 windmills are opened to the public. This holiday coincides with Cyclist's Day, so all cycling routes include visits to windmills.
Windmills — is one of the symbols of the Netherlands, along with canals, tulips, Dutch cheese and Dutch herring.
The Roman Pliny the Elder once said about the Dutch: «You don’t know whether the earth serves as their home or water». In fact, the ground here is shaky and unreliable. Half of the state's territory lies below sea level. The expulsion of water and the struggle for land suitable for life and agriculture — everyday Dutch reality. The motto on the coat of arms of the Netherlands reads: «Fighting and swimming out!».
Holland is said to look like a small plate in which tulips, tulips and tulips swim. M. Dodge, author of the famous «Silver Skates», the favorite childhood book of many generations of different countries, wrote about Holland: «This is such a flat country that all objects are clearly visible even from afar, and the chicken can be seen as well as a windmill, and ships in Holland are tied to doorposts — in the same way that horses are tied in other countries, and all sorts of goods are loaded onto them from the windows of the upper floor. In this country, people live like beavers, and it may happen that one fine day, when the tide reaches its highest point, Holland will be carried into the ocean...».
Holland — is a constant fight against the elements — channels, shafts, dams, pile houses. There are windmills on the canals. In the Netherlands, mills are not to grind flour. Here the mills became the weapon that allowed the land forces to win their first serious victory over the water forces.
The people of the Netherlands never expected favors from nature. Previously, a person was unable to cut huge logs, grind solid mineral rock into powder to make paints, and simply grind enough flour and press oils was not easy. Having entrusted this work to mills, back in the 13th century the Dutch took the construction of houses and ships, textile production, and food production to a new level. Having learned to use the force of the wind, they were faced with the problem of — work had to be done day after day, and the changeable wind did not always blow in the right direction. Then Dutch engineers began to build mills with rotating towers — such towers could be turned, choosing the most effective position of the wings in relation to the wind.
The Netherlands has long been one of the most populous countries in Europe — already in the 11th century they began to lack land, every piece of arable land counted. It would seem that nothing can be done about this circumstance. But no — in the 16th century, Dutchman Jan Ligwater found a way to increase land area — again using 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 — needed a system of powerful pumps. Ligwater proposed creating wind pumps by connecting the shafts of the mills to the Archimedes screw.
However, it turned out that single pumps would not raise the water to the desired height, then he developed a sequential pumping system. Ligwater proposed building entire systems of parallel channels. Dozens of mills were to pump water from the canal to the canal, eventually diverting it beyond the causeway that surrounded the area being drained. Thus arose a land not provided for in 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 extension 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 happening 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 indicated some kind of event. The tilt of the wings to one side showed that the miller had an addition to the 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 mills to tell English planes where the Germans were stationed.
Mills are still operating in Holland, although only a thousand remain. Even the Ligwater system of 19 mills can be seen with your own eyes in the south of the country, in Kinderdijk. True, the mills practically no longer bear functional significance, but operate mainly during the tourist season. Not far from Zaandam, located 10 km from Amsterdam, in the town of Cogues-en-de-Zan, there is a Museum of Mills.