in front of 3 of the 6 centrifugal pumps...

a visit with the grandchildren...

History
Incredible four million litres of water per minute pass the sluices of Woudagemaal, the Wouda Steam Pumping Station, being pumped out of Friesland's drainage channels back to the Ijsselmeer. For decades this was a matter of survival for the province in northern Netherlands, lying on average half a metre below sea level. Queen Wilhelmina celebrated the pumping station's inauguration in 1920. In doing so, she honoured a true technological masterpiece setting global standards. Its construction was supervised by the Dutch civil engineer Dirk Frederik Wouda who still lends his name to the historic complex. Basically, it includes the pumping station with boiler house, chimney and a coal storage depot. Four drainage channels, equipped with sluices, drive the water in the direction of the Ijsselmeer. Until 1966 this capacity was sufficient to manage and regulate Friesland's water level unaided. Subsequently the main share of drainage was accomplished by surrounding pumping stations powered by electricity. But whenever heavy storms would press the water of the Ijsselmeer upcountry the boilers of Woudagemaal would be heated again. Those four boilers are the only part of the complex that has occasionally been replaced and was conversed from coal to fuel-oil firing in 1967. Before that the necessary energy was exclusively sourced from coal and – in the aftermath of the Second World War – even from peat.

The steam engines and centrifugal pumps are made by Jaffa in Utrecht and still fulfil their purpose, as do the buildings. The architecture is more than a simple cover anyway. Its expressionist style that is typical for the "Amsterdam School" bestows the monumentality of a palace upon the pumping station. That applies even more to the splendid interior of the engine hall which proudly showcases technology and the belief in progress. The nearby visitor centre vividly illustrates the technical details and portrays the Woudagemaal as important historic component in a large-scale system of dykes, artificial land reclamation and pumping stations.