| Type: | Flour Mill |
| Since: | 1656 |
| Owner: | Vereniging De Zaansche Molen |
| Miller: | Rick Bakker |
| Location: | Lagedijk 28, 1544BG Zaandijk |
| Phonenumber: | +31 756215148 |
| E-mail: | info@zaanschemolen.nl |
HISTORY
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 (Death).
The mill Het Leven was a polder mill in the northern most tip of the village that saw service between 1633 and 1904. Mill De Bleeke Dood was a flourmill in the south of the village.
Until the mid-19th century, bakers were obliged to grind their wheat into flourbread in the village mill, and that was the primary function of the De Bleeke Dood mill in Zaandijk. When this obligation fell into disuse, the mill itself deteriorated. For many years afterwards, the De Bleeke Dood mill, with its mutilated body, stook out like a sore thumb in picturesque Zaandijk. The skeleton that was the mill stood head and shoulders above the village. In the early 1930s, the mill lost all the attributes that give it then appearance of a mill: first its sails, then its ‘tail’ and finally its gallery.
In the 1950’s, plans were drawn up to restore the De Bleeke Dood to its former glory. In 1954, the process began and at the end of a long and complex restoration period, Zaandijk had gained yet another monumental testimony to its rich past.
The mill was renovated yet again in 2001.
More history: Click here
