Home EUROPE Windmills at Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

Windmills at Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

In September 2016 issue of JetWings International, my image from Kinderdijk, The Netherlands appeared in their regular BW section – Radar.

Windmills at Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

When you live seven metres below sea level, you need to keep the water out. The residents of Kinderdijk, a village about 12 km south-east of Rotterdam, deployed an ingenious technique for this purpose – an elaborate arrangement of windmills. Built around 1740, 19 of these windmills continue to survive and fulfill its original purpose of keeping the land dry. They also provide a three-storeyed living quarters to the farmers who own them. A windmill-turned museum gives you a glimpse into the local culture and lifestyle. This well-preserved innovation has earned the windmills of Kinderdijk a UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

📷 Photographer’s Note

Something in this post caught your eye — a slant of light, a detail the guidebook skipped, a piece of history that sits differently now that you have seen it through a lens. Good. That is exactly what these posts are for.

This site is part of a larger body of work: over 110 UNESCO World Heritage Sites photographed across 40+ countries, with the same approach — the history, the light, the politics, and what most visitors walk past without noticing. I have put the India coverage together in two dedicated guides. If you want more of this, start there.

India UNESCO Sites — Part 1 → India UNESCO Sites — Part 2 →