Windmills in Amsterdam

Windmills in Amsterdam

Holland is famous for its windmills. There were thousands of them, carrying out diverse tasks such as grinding grain and sawing wood.

Their most well-known function is to make dry land (and keep it dry).
Although windmills are nowadays mostly preserved historic buildings, some are still actually used to pump water away from lower lying areas.

Of the about 1,100 Dutch windmills that survive today, Amsterdam has 9 windmills (but it depends on how you count), two of which are in central Amsterdam, and one (the Sloten windmill in Amsterdam West) can be visited.

In the Gaasperpark in Amsterdam South East is a small 'tjasker' windmill, which could be counted as the 10th windmill in the Amsterdam municipality.

It could even be argued there are 11: not far from the Sloten windmill is the Akermolen. To call it a windmill is a bit of a stretch - the top half (and the wings) has disappeared and what is left is hardly recognizable as a windmill. However, it is located nicely on a dike, and it has a lunch cafe inside with outdoor seating.

Windmills in Amsterdam
Windmill De Otter

Windmill De Otter

Beer brewery

Beer brewery 't IJ' next to windmill De Gooijer