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The Blokweer Museum Mill in Kinderdijk on a summer day, with the Dutch flag fluttering on the left.

Home Visit the windmills

Fancy yourself a miller at Kinderdijk

Travel back in time in our museum mills

A visit to our windmills will take you back to life in bygone days. Step inside, step into the story and learn all about the millers’ families and their yards.

Learn and experience

Visit the museum mills

In the Nederwaard Museum Mill, you can feel the power of the gear wheels revolving close to you. You can learn about the life and work of the miller and his family, who lived right next to the water. In both museum mills, Nederwaard and Blokweer, you can experience how self-sufficient these people once were: they had their own vegetable garden, a haystack, and pets: it was a life closely entwined with the natural world.

 

And why not visit our floating exhibition too, in a historic barge moored next to one of the windmills? Here, you can learn how the Dutch, now and in the past, cope with water and how we keep adapting to meet the challenges of the future.

In fact, you won’t just hear the story – you will be right in the middle of it.

More than just a museum

Kinderdijk is more than just a very exciting museum. The windmills still operate and are still part of a very clever water system. Here, old and new work together – as the sails of these ancient windmills turn, you can see the modern pumping stations do their job in the background. If the power ever fails, the windmills are ready to step in. Here, you will learn that history is never finished.

 

The Museum Mills are fully furnished and accessible to visitors. You can look around inside, listen, and touch. It’s a unique experience for people of all ages.
The miller lets children discover how the mill is braked and released (the brake) by pulling on a rope.

Meet the millers of today

In and around the windmills, you will meet the millers who are true masters of their craft. Many of them have been doing this job for years; some were even taught by their fathers or grandfathers. They will explain how to read the weather and why the wind is all-powerful. Kinderdijk must follows nature’s behavior to exist, and you will soon see what that means when you talk to the millers. No question is too far-fetched; they love to show you around their world of windmills, responsibility, and ancient traditions. And if you listen carefully, you might hear a miller’s secret.

The Kinderdijk windmills are full of life and traditions.

 

Ancient heritage still in operation today

Kinderdijk is so unique because everything still works as it once did and you can view it all in perfect condition. Here, you see real windmills. You will actually feel how the Netherlands was shaped by water and how the struggle to control the water here continues to this day. Your visit will help us preserve this heritage for the future, because the full price of your ticket goes to the upkeep of this beautiful piece of countryside and its history.

The windmills of Kinderdijk on a summer day, with a few visitors walking along the Nature Trail.
Let yourself be carried away by the story of Kinderdijk

And come and experience this heritage for yourself