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Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout

Netherlands
Date of Inscription: 1997
Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)
Municipalities of Alblasserdam and Nieuw-Lekkerland, Province of Zuid-Holland
N51 52 57 E4 38 58
Ref: 818

Brief Description

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.

Justification for Inscription

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.

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