Zaandijk’s citizens have traditionally and literally – at least since 1656 – lived between life and death: between the mills Het_Leven (Life) and De_Bleeke_Dood (The Pale Death). Het_Leven was a polder mill at the far north end, flour mill De_Bleeke_Dood was and still is situated at the south of the village.

Until the midst of the 19th century bakers were obliged to have their wheat ground in a village mill. This was done by De Bleeke Dood. When this obligation expired, the mill fell in decay. For many years the windmill with its crippled body, looked like a sore thumb over picturesque Zaandijk. Its skeleton towered high above the village.

In the early 1930s, the mill lost all what gave it the appearance of a mill.In the 1950s, plans were drawn up to renovate the mill to its former glory. In 1954, the renovation started and after radical construction work, Zaandijk regained a valuable monument to its rich past. The mill is the oldest still existing mill of this kind in the Netherlands.

In 2001 the mill got a final renovation again hence its beautiful appearance.

See this windmill in 360 VR photos

360 VR Videotour through the entire windmill
How does a flour mill work. The answer is in this video
It is dutch spoken but has subtitles in english).

Kalverringdijk • Zaandam • North-Holland • The Netherlands • You find us 15 kilometer north of Amsterdam along the river Zaan • Easy access by train