Webexpo on Leeghwater
2025 is the year of Leeghwater! He came into the world exactly 450 years ago. This special webexpo tells more about his life and work.
Jan Adriaensz. Leeghwater was born in the North Holland village of De Rijp in 1575. In 2025, the year of his birth will be exactly 450 years behind us. This will be extensively commemorated in the "Land of Leeghwater" between Alkmaar and Purmerend. Leeghwater is a mythical figure today. He is known as the man who more or less single-handedly turned the Beemster, the Schermeer and all those other large lakes in North Holland into grassy meadows in the seventeenth century. Meanwhile, even sixty-one streets, roads, avenues and squares in our country bear his name.
Fairground stunt
But it all started for Leeghwater with a stunt at the fair in Amsterdam in 1606. He jumped into the water armed with a wind instrument and a bunch of pears and stayed under for a very long time. The crowd in attendance feared for his life. Or was there some music coming from the water? In any case, Leeghwater only reappeared when everyone had long since lost hope. He had half-eaten the pears and had also made a short verse with a drawing underwater. All of Amsterdam was talking about it. How did Leeghwater pull this off? In any case, he was in the front row when, a year later, a group of wealthy Amsterdammers began the reclamation of the large Beemster Lake near his hometown of De Rijp. Leeghwater already knew them and was hired as superintendent. That was the start of a fine career as a polder expert, which even took him to Schleswig, Bordeaux and Alsace.
This webexpo gives a surprising picture of the real Leeghwater as a self-proclaimed "ingenijeur and millmaker vande Ryp.