Leiden municipal windmill museum. Molen De Valk is a tower mill and museum in Leiden, Netherlands.
Molen de Valk (The Falcon) is a tower mill, dating from 1743. The current tower mill is the third mill built at this location. In 1611 the post mill "De Valck" was built, and in 1667 it was replaced by a wooden post mill. In 1743 this higher tower mill was built. The new, stone mill had to accommodate two families and had to be high enough to rise above the houses in its surroundings in order to catch enough wind. The ground floor and the additional building contained the kitchens, living areas and stable of the two houses. The sleeping rooms where located on the first and second floor, while the third served as storage room. The milling activities again take place in the spaces located from the fourth floor (14 metres) to the top of the mill (29 metres). The first, second and third floor have been turned into exhibition rooms when the mill became a municipal museum in 1966 following the death of the last miller, Willem van Rhijn, in 1964 at the age of 87. In 2000, the De Valk mill became operationally functional again and has been used for milling. Whole-wheat flour ground at the mill can now be bought again at the museum shop. At present around 25,000 people a year are visiting windmill De Valk. The father of Holland's most famous painter Rembrandt van Rhijn was a miller on a wooden post mill not far from here. Despite having the same surname as Rembrandt, Van Rhijn, and stemming from a long line of millers, the last family owning De Valck to their regret have never been able to prove that they were in fact related.
Size: 6144px × 4095px
Location: 2e Binnenvestgracht 1, 2312 BZ Leiden, The Netherlands
Photo credit: © Wiskerke / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: canal, de, dutch, holland, leiden, leiden., leyden, mill, molenmuseum, museum, nederland, nederlands, netherlands, niederlande, tower, typical, valck, valk, wind, windmill
