World Heritage Identification Number: 818
World Heritage since: 1997
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇳🇱 Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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The Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout: A Testament to Dutch Water Management
The Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, stands as a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of the Dutch people in their ongoing battle against water. Located in the Alblasserwaard polder, in the province of South Holland, this collection of 19 windmills offers a unique glimpse into the history and evolution of water management techniques in the Netherlands.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The outstanding contribution made by the people of the Netherlands to the technology of handling water is admirably demonstrated by the installations in the Kinderdijk-Elshout area. Construction of hydraulic works for the drainage of land for agriculture and settlement began in the Middle Ages and have continued uninterruptedly to the present day. The site illustrates all the typical features associated with this technology – dykes, reservoirs, pumping stations, administrative buildings and a series of beautifully preserved windmills.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
The Committee decided to inscribe this site on the basis of criteria (i), (ii) and (iv) considering that the Kinderdijk-Elshout mill network is an outstanding man-made landscape that bears powerful testimony to human ingenuity and fortitude over nearly a millennium in draining and protecting an area by the development and application of hydraulic technology.
Encyclopedia Record: Kinderdijk windmills
The Kinderdijk windmills are a group of 19 monumental windmills in the Alblasserwaard polder, in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Most of the mills are part of the village of Kinderdijk in the municipality of Molenlanden, and one mill, De Blokker, is part of the municipality of Alblasserdam. Built in 1738 and 1740, to keep water out of the polder, it is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands and one of the best-known Dutch tourist sites. The mills are listed as national monuments and the entire area is a protected village view since 1993. They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, and as such are officially named as the Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout.Additional Site Details
Area: 322 hectares
(ii) — Significant interchange of human values
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
Coordinates: 51.8825 , 4.649444444
Image
© Lucas Hirschegger, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
