Foreign dignitaries open tourist season at World Heritage site

KINDERDIJK – The 2009 tourist season for Kinderdijk’s very popular Unesco World Heritage site was recently kicked off with a visit from over 25 foreign ambassadors and their partners. The dignitaries each unveiled a flag of their country, which were stringed together on a rope between two blades of the lead windmill. Rows of water drainage windmills, nineteen in total, line the main canal at the heritage site. Windmills can be found throughout the Netherlands and were the wind-driven backbone of Dutch industry, long before the arrival of the industrial age.