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In Museum The Cruquius, you can see how ...
… “God created the earth, except for the Netherlands, because the Dutch did that themselves.” And how the Dutch accomplished this ingenious land reclamation is exhibited in Haarlemmermeer Museum The Cruquius.
Steam pumping station De Cruquius started operation in 1849. Together with two other steam pumping stations, they drained the Haarlemmermeer in three years and three months. The Waterwolf, as the lake was also named, swallowed up both land and complete villages and became dangerous to larger cities such as Amsterdam and Haarlem. The pumping station with the largest steam engine in the world pumped 320,000 liters of water out of the lake per minute. This is an Olympic swimming pool every 8 minutes!
More than 5000 modern pumps fight the water to protect the Dutch today. The visit to Museum The Cruquius made me realize we are still vulnerable and shouldn’t take this fight for granted.
