Category: Dutch History
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What Is King’s Day in the Netherlands and Why Does Everyone Wear Orange?
King’s Day in the Netherlands: why millions wear orange, what happens on 27 April, and how to celebrate — plus get weekly stories free in our newsletter.
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Why Kinderdijk Has 19 Windmills (And Why They Still Matter)
Image: Shutterstock A row of 19 windmills stands in a line along a canal south-east of Rotterdam, and together they look like the most Dutch thing on earth. Most visitors come, take a photograph, and leave thinking “well, that was lovely.” Almost nobody asks the obvious question: why are there 19 of them in a…
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Rembrandt’s Leiden — Where the Dutch Golden Age Was Born
Image: Shutterstock Everyone knows that Rembrandt van Rijn was the greatest Dutch painter. Not everyone knows that before he became “Rembrandt of Amsterdam,” he was “Rembrandt of Leiden” — a miller’s son from a small university city 40 kilometres to the south, where he was born, apprenticed, and painted his first masterpieces before moving north…