SAVING A LOST CRAFT
98 | July• 2019
was restored in the 1980s. His father
Karel was co-founder of the national
guild of flour millers, and Maarten is
the current chairman.
When I visit the Windotter, the
windmill is in full operation. Stand-
ing on the reefing stage, an elevated
platform surrounding the windmill,
from where Dolman can turn the
top of the mill and the blades against
the wind, I watch the blades turn in
a mild wind against the backdrop of
Ijsselstein’s historic town centre. In-
side, the crackling and pounding of
wood on wood accom-
panies the movement
of the central shaft
of the windmill as it
drives the gears and
stones that grind grain
into flour.
“Mind your head for
this boom here,” says
Dolman, as he leads
the way up stairways
and ladders to the top
level. There, a huge
cast-iron windshaft,
the only part of the contraption not
made of wood, transfers the rotating
force of the blades to the central shaft.
There are more warnings not to bump
my head or get my clothes caught be-
tween moving parts, leaving me in-
timidated by this huge machine and
the power it harnesses.
At the end of the 17th century,
the Netherlands’ golden age of eco-
nomic and cultural growth, there
were more than 10,000 windmills in
this small country. They cut wood,
pressed oil, ground corn, made pa-
per and had other industrial tasks,
but most were polder mills and
pumped water, like the Onrust. They
stayed in operation until wind tech-
nolog y was made obsolete by the
invention of the steam engine, and,
later, the combustion engine.BY THE END OF WORLD WAR Imost
windmills were abandoned, torn
down, or left to rot. “The Windotter
was closed in 1917,”
Dolman says. “All
moving parts were
dismantled and the
mill house was left as
an empty shell.”
The dire situation
changed after World
War II. “We owe it all
to Queen Wilhelmina,”
he says. Wilhelmina,
who was head of state
from 1898-1948, was
deeply shocked by the
general state of windmills when she
travelled around the country after
her return from exile in Britain af-
ter W WII. Her dismay led the gov-
ernment to declare windmills state
monuments in 1946, clearing the
way for funds to be allocated for their
restoration and upkeep.
The move gave the country some of
its most famous tourist attractions,
such as the Zaanse Schans museumWARN INGS
NOT TO GET
MY CLOTHES
CAUGHT
BETWEEN
MOVING PARTS
LE AVE S M E
INTIMIDATED
BY THIS HUGE
MACHINE