Vereniging De Hollandsche Molen () ( en, Dutch Windmill Association) is a Dutch organization founded in 1923 to preserve

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

s in the Netherlands, to document them, and to restore them. Financial support comes from members and from grants by organizations such as the (a Dutch lottery). Their website provides access to a database which documents some 1400 mills in the Netherlands; "Het Nederlands Molenbestand" is authoritative on the topic. The organization is often given credit for organizing a powerful and effective lobby aimed at procuring money from Dutch government institutions to fund restoration projects. Its former president Frederik Stokhuyzen was one of the foremost scholars on Dutch windmills; a recently revised edition of his 1961 book ''Molens'' is still the standard book on the topic. In 1981,

Prince Claus of the Netherlands Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jonkheer van Amsberg (born Klaus-Georg Wilhelm Otto Friedrich Gerd von Amsberg; 6 September 1926 – 6 October 2002) was Prince consort of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until his death in 2002 as the husband ...

became the organization's patron, and attended ten ceremonies at which windmills were reopened; at his death in 2002 the 12 windmills owned and operated by the organization had their

sails A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

set in the "mourning position," with the lowest sail fixed and set slightly to the right. His son,

Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

, became the next patron. In August 2014 former queen

Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...

took over as patron from her son.

References

{{Dutch Windmills Organisations based in Amsterdam Organizations established in 1923 1923 establishments in the Netherlands Windmills in the Netherlands