As Dutch as it can get

The Zaanse Schans is a neighbourhood with historic wooden buildings in the municipality of Zaanstad. It lies on the Zaan, opposite the village of Zaandijk and next to the Juliana bridge. It is a well-known tourist destination. It was designed to preserve the historical heritage, but it is not a closed open-air museum. The houses are inhabited, so that not only tourists come to the site.
Between 1961 and 1974, many old wooden buildings from the Zaan region were brought to the Zaanse Schans expansion plan with low loaders and restored to their former glory. Also some mills were moved here. Only the substructure of the 'Kat' paint mill (originally an oil mill) and the 'de Bonte Hen' oil mill, as well as the 'de Os' oil mill, are still in their original premises. Later on, buildings were also regularly moved to the Zaanse Schans.

The neighbourhood was named in 1961 after the entrenchment that Diederik Sonoy, governor employed by William of Orange, had built in 1574 to stop the Spanish troops.