Outside the Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
The Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Netherlands which we are visiting. It is some distance away from Amsterdam but we had a car with us so that is not a problem. Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal is in a rather quiet part of the town of Lemmer fortunately, it was in the satnav. Immediately, you will notice that there is a lot of water in this area. To understand the role of Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal, one needs to understand the history of the Netherlands. The Netherlands has a long running battle with the sea since most of their land is below sea level. To counter this, the Dutch had to devise ways to take water out and put it somewhere else. The windmills of Holland are probably the most famous tools which are used to pump water.
Chimney at the Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal
While the windmills are quite effective in continuously pumping water. It won’t work if there was no wind. In the industrial age, the steam pump was invented. It was only a matter of time that the technology is used in pumping water. It is far more effective since it will have a lot more power. From the outside, the Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal looks like a large industrial building. It looks much like a factory except that it has gates to take water in. I’m not sure if I would be able to appreciate these kinds of things but they do have a guided tour here for people who are interested. Visitors first need to go to the visitor center to purchase tickets before entering the pumping station.
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