Wooden Shoes and Windmills

Nothing says Holland like wooden shoes and windmills.  Northwest of Amsterdam is Zaanse Shans, an open-air museum with windmills and a clog factory.

Some History

Wooden Shoes - Klompen

Wooden clogs are known as Kompen in Dutch.  The Dutch have been wearing wooden clogs since Medieval times.  The first recorded clog guild dates back to 1570. The oldest shoes excavated dated to 1230 A.D.  Not many have been found in excavations as wood breaks down and feeds the soil.


The shoes are very practical.  They are still in use in industry.  Farmers, especially the bulb growers, find them great to wear, as they work well in muddy fields. They keep the feet dry. Fishermen, factory workers, artisans and others find the shoes to be very protective. Nails, fishhooks, and other sharp objects will not penetrate a wooden clog as they will a leather shoe.  Industrial strength klompen must pass an industry standard for extreme weather. 

Clogs for dancing are made a bit different so that they are lighter to wear.  Klompendanskunst, or clog dancing is popular in the Netherlands.

Most klompen, made for tourists, are made out of birch wood, and by machine.  There are some traditional clog makers who hand carve the shoes.  These clogs are made from sycamore, alder, willow or poplar woods. Before the industrial age, a good clog maker could carve out about seven pairs of shoes a day - with a 13 hour work day!

Decorations for clogs can be based on many ideas.  The first major artist to paint on clogs was Pieter Brueghel, the Elder in 1550.

Most people in the Netherlands wear regular shoes.  However, America does have a love affair with clogs. I prefer the Birkenstock brand.  Crocs - the colorful plastic clog are very useful in gardens and with small children who like to get dirty.

Windmills

Windmills got their start in the 13th century. 100 years later, the industrous Dutch figured out how to use windmills to pump water, and the reclamation of land began. Windmills were also early factories for cut wood, paint pigments, and the making of clay for potters.

By the mid-1800s, there were about 10,000 windmills operating all over the Netherlands.  However, the steam engine came along, and windmills were a thing of the past.  By 1999 only 950 windmills were still operating.  The Dutch went to work to preserve the remaining windmills and to keep the operational.  To run a windmill, a person must be licensed by the Dutch Government, and have had to attend training for three years.

Windmills also made paper, from wood brought in from Norway.  The paper on which the Declaration of Independence was written was manufactured in the Zaan region of the Netherlands, most likely from Norwegian wood.

The Kinderdijk is an area with 19 operating windmills near Rotterdam.  It has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 Zaanse Shans

Zaanse Shans has a collection of museums, windmills (which are all working windmills), craft shops where pewter and clogs are made, a cheese factory, and much more.  It is incredible.  If you have a long layover in amsterdam (12 hours), ditch the luggage at the airport, and head for Zaanse Shans! (Or if you live in Norway, it is a quick City Hopper KLM flight to Amsterdam!)

The Windmills

There are six working windmills at Zaanse Shans:
De Huisman - "The Houseman".  This mill was built in 1786, and eventually moved to the museum.  Currently, mustard is made at this mill.
De Gedroonde Poelenburg - "The Crowned Poelenburg", this mill was built in 1869. It is a sawmill.
De Kat - "The Cat". The original mill was built at this exact location in 1646.  It burned down. In 1960, the mille "The Hunter Dune" was put in its place and renamed for the original.
De Zoeker -"The Seeker". This oil mill was built in 1672.
De Bonte Hen - "The Motley Crew".  This oil mill was built in 1693.
het Jonge Schaap - "The Young Sheep".  Original built in 1680, demolished in 1942.  Replica built in 2005.

I went to The Cat, which grinds rocks and wood to make paint pigments.  There are five levels of the windmill.  The top level is closed to the public, level 2,3 and 4 are accessed by a very narrow stair/ladder.  I am proud to say that this 50-year-old fat lady had no problem getting up and down these narrow passages.

Above is The Cat.  The pictures below are of the mill itself and some of the pigments that have been ground.  Reading about the pigments, I imagine that some could have been poisonous as they contained mercury.  I have also included a picture looling down the ladder/staircase.



Scary! Not for those with vertigo.



Museums

Zaans Museum  A museum of the life of the people who lived in the Zaan region. I was fascinated with a video showing what  women had to go through to dress fashionably.  There had to be 20 lbs of clothes on that poor girl.
Verkade Pavillion Verkade makes cookies and chocolate.  They had a factory right there!  Or so it seemed.  I couldn't figure out where the cookies and finuished chocolates were going to.  Standing on a high balcony, I could see the Disneyesque aspect to this and knew I was watching a very good simulation. 
Bakery Museum  Closed.
Museumshop Albert Heijn Grocery- In 1887 Albert Heijn took over the small grocery store his parents owned.  The Albert Heijn Company is now the largest grocery chain in the Netherlands.
Museum Dutch Clock Too tired to go.

Crafts

Clog Factory and Museum - This was fascinating! People who work here have to wear Klompen.



Artistic Klompen




Stages from a piece of wood to a finished clog



Wall of finished clogs

Your clog designs let people know what region you were from. 

KlompenSkates!

Sunday Klompen

Wedding Klompen

Japanrese-style  clogs

Antique Afgani clogs

Klompen for working on ice.

workboot clogs

I found these at the side of a house.

De Catherina Hoeve- A replica of a farm from the village of Oostsaan, this is the cheese making area of the museum.  As I can get Dutch cheese in Utah - we have The Dutch Store in Sugar House, I did not buy any.
De Tinkoepel- This is the pewter foundry.  Authentic bronze moulds, some from 1697 are used to make a variety of pewter items.

Restaurants, Cruises and More!

Across the Zaan River is the town of Zaandam.  Here you can visit the Czaar Peterhuisje, the Czar Peter House.  Peter the Great came to the Netherlands in 1697 for a week, and undercover as Peter Mikhailov, a sailor.  He came to learn shipbuilding, and to garner Western support against the Turks. The home he stayed in for a week was a simple abode, but it has been a place of pilgrimage ever since.  Talk about star power!  I did not go.

The town of Zaandam, across the river.

These antique homes were moved to Zaanse Shans, and people live in them.

And have pets!

Zaanse Shans has some excellent restaurants and cafes. I went to the pancake restaurant and had a cheese and bacon pancake (really a crepe).

Cruises up and down the Zaan River are also available.  I did not go.  All in all, it was an excelllent day!