Rijn en Lek windmill

Rijn en Lek (German Rhine and Lek ) is a brick gallery tower windmill built on the Leutertor (Dutch Leuterpoort, former city gate) in Wijk bij Duurstede , Utrecht province , Netherlands , from the 17th century ; it stands at the transition from the Rhine ( Nederrijns ) to the Lek .

history

1659 it was built as Lohmühle on a 1370 coming gate, the so-called Leuterpforte (Leuterpoort, after the peasantry De Leuth ), the northeast gate of the city, which at that time Wyk enrolled te Duerstede. For this purpose, its high upper part had to be removed down to the portal house (substructure up to one floor above the portal). A mill builder from Wijk was also involved in the construction. Later (date unknown) it was converted into a grain mill. It has survived several storms, in some cases just barely, and has often been repaired and rebuilt (cap, outer skin). In 1924 it was for sale (also on demolition) and has belonged to the Association of Dutch Mills (Vereniging De Hollandsche Molen) since 1929 , which saved it from decay and storage; it is fully windmillable. In 1959 and 1978/80 extensive repair work was carried out on the wings and gallery as well as the removal of the damaged plaster. Since then it has appeared in a strong brick red.

Some volunteer millers turn the big windmill on the weekend to grind grain to different flour strengths with wind power.

description

The mill Rhein und Lek (ndl. Rijn en Lek ) is a very rare type of windmill, because it is placed on an old city gate as a substructure, which makes it unique these days. In the past, windmills often stood on top of the tall city towers or gates. Here, however, the old gate base with attached windmill is merged into a single building, similar to the former Pantaleon mill on the former Bachtor or the Carthusian mill on the Ulrepforte in Cologne. For this purpose, the high superstructure was removed from the former Leuterpforte from the 14th century, and a round stone gallery windmill was built on the remaining cubic portal house. Conical stone mills with codend tracking were very rare in the 14th century, it may be one of the first. At that time there were many cylindrical stone tower windmills with a harvester in the cap, four of which are still standing today. Rijn en Lek is an example of the transition from heavy cylindrical windmills - only these are called tower mills (torenmolens) in the Netherlands - to lighter, mostly conical stone mills. The Steingaleriewindmühle (gallery tower windmill ) Rhein und Lek , called ronde stenen stellingmolen / bovenkruier (Obenkrüher / -dreher) in the Netherlands , is a typical Dutch town mill with a medium-high mill tower (≈ 21 m). It is built of bricks, was plastered gray for many years, the gallery is about 10 meters high , the ridge of the thatched , boat-shaped canopy is about 21 meters high. It runs on a 36-roller iron end slewing ring. The flight (diameter) of the wing cross is 24 meters. Under the corrugated head, the jewelry board names the years 1659 and 1997, including the name Rijn en Lek . The gable stone embedded in the masonry (ndl. Gevelsteen) reports on the takeover by the "Association of Dutch Mills" in 1929.

It has four / five floors: Kornboden (grinding floor, still in the gate substructure), stone floor and lifting floor (two elevators, previously operated by gaff wheel and endless chain) with cap base - (ndl. Zolders: graanzolder (maalzolder), steenzolder, luizolder met capzolder) and two courses . The windmill is turned (cranked), as is almost exclusively the case in the Netherlands, from the outside (ndl. Buitenkruier) via a codend with a reel, two pairs of scissors and the Spreet beams running through the cap from the gallery. In addition to the two grinding courses, it has a sifter (ndl. Klopbuil) for various grades of flour grain.

It got its name from its location near the point where the Rhine merges into the Lek. It is a landmark of Wijk bij Duurstede and has long been mistaken for the famous mill in the painting by Jacob van Ruisdael for unknown reasons . That was a cylindrical stone gallery windmill from the time before 1555 with codend tracking - not a great resemblance alone because of the gate substructure of the Rhine and Lek . Until its demolition in 1817, the Wijk bij Duurstede mill , possibly a converted old city wall tower, stood about 200 meters north-northwest of the Rhein und Lek mill . Its base still exists today.

The famous mill at Wijk bij Duurstede by Jacob van Ruisdael ; Rijn en Lek would be in the middle of the right margin

Mill data

Canopy height: 21 m (72 ft)
Total height: 31 m (101 ft)
Gallery height: 9.5 m (31.17 ft)
Mill wing span (diameter / flight): 24.4 m (80.06 ft)
Comb wheel diameter: 3.28 m (10 3/4 ft)
Basic outer width: 10 m (32.8 ft)
Grinds: 2
Bottoms: 5 with cap bottoms

literature

MA van der Eerden-Vonk et al. (Ed.): Wijk bij Duurstede - 700 jaar stad - ruimtelijke structuur en bouwgeschiedenis (Wijk bij Duurstede - 700 years of the city - spatial structure and building history). Verlag (Uitgeverij) Verloren, Hilversum 2000, ISBN 90-6550-619-5 .
Fred Gaasbeek: De molen Rijn en Lek te Wijk bij Duurstede - Wereldberoemd thankszij een misvatting. Verlag (Uitgeverij) Verloren, Hilversum 2010, ISBN 978-90-8704-177-9 .

Web links

Commons : Windmill Rijn en Lek - Collection of images, videos and audio files