Sint Jansklooster (

Dutch Low Saxon Dutch Low Saxon ( or ''Nederlaands Nedersaksies''; nl, Nederlands Nedersaksisch) are the Low Saxon dialects of the Low German language that are spoken in the northeastern Netherlands and are written there with local, unstandardised orthographi ...

: ''′t Klooster'') is a village in the municipality

Steenwijkerland Steenwijkerland (; nds-nl, Stienwiekerlaand or ''Steenwiekerlaand'') is a municipality in the province of Overijssel, in the eastern Netherlands. It was called Steenwijk before 2003. The municipality forms the entire northwesterly corner of the ...

of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Overijssel Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the ...

. It started as a monastery. The village is located near the

Weerribben-Wieden National Park Weerribben-Wieden National Park (Dutch: ''Nationaal Park Weerribben-Wieden'') is a Dutch national park in the Steenwijkerland and Zwartewaterland municipalities in the Overijssel province. Comprising the largest bog of Northwestern Europe, the pa ...

, and organises an annual ''

bloemencorso ''Bloemencorso'' (a Dutch word) means "flower parade", "flower pageant" or "flower procession". In a parade of this kind the floats (''praalwagens''), cars and (in some cases) boats are magnificently decorated or covered in flowers. This custom ...

'' (flower parade).

History

Sint Jansklooster started as a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

monastery founded in 1399 by Johannes van Ommen. In 1409, the settlement was first attested as Campus S. Joannis. The monastery was destroyed in 1581 during the Siege of Steenwijk. The village became an agricultural community and its economy was partially based on

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

excavation of the surrounding bogs. In 1840, it was home to 250 people. The is a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

constructed in 1857 as a replacement of a 1780 mill. It was restored in 1996. During the early 20th century, Sint Jansklooster started to develop. In 1932, a tall

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

was constructed near the village. In the late 20th century, the water tower became obsolete. It was bought by an industrial heritage foundation in 2009, and was redeveloped into a watchtower for the national park. It reopened in 2014, and has 207 steps to the top. Since 1986, Sint Jansklooster organises an annual ''

'' (flower parade) on the third Friday of August. The floats in the parade are made of

dahlia Dahlia (, ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. A member of the Asteraceae (former name: Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its garden relatives thus include the sunflower, ...

s. The nearby De Wieden, a large bog, was declared a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

in 2009, and added to the Weerribben forming the

Gallery

File:Oud Schuilenburg.jpg, Farm "Oud Schuilenburg" File:Restant muur Sint Janskloos.jpg, Remnant of the monastery File:Nationaal Park Weerribben-Wieden. Wandeling over het Laarzenpad door veenmoeras van De Wieden 04.jpg, Path through the Wieden File:Stekeligalliance.jpg, Flower parade (2015)

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Overijssel Steenwijkerland 1390s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire