If you would ask a random foreigner, that's to say someone from outside the Netherlands, to mention a Dutch island, chances are high that you would get 'Marken' as an answer. Because of all islands discussed on this site, Marken is undoubtedly the most famous one.

That's not by chance. Many foreigners consider the folkloric Marken, with its dike, its shiny green painted little wooden stilt houses and its residents, dressed in the colorful traditional costumes (including wooden shoes) as the ultimate symbol of the Netherlands. And because it is located less than twenty kilometers from the Amsterdam city center a trip to Marken and the neighboring fishing town of Volendam, the so-called 'Holland Tour', is an almost obligatory item in the schedule of everyone visiting the Dutch capital. As a result, Marken receives about one million tourists every year. It won't be surprising that, when you are walking here on a nice day in the midst of the summer season, you will hear more foreign languages spoken than Dutch.

Unfortunately, Marken is no longer an island. Since 1957 it is connected to the mainland by means of a two kilometer long dike. That's a pity, of course, but let's console ourselves with the knowledge that it could have been worse, much worse. If the Zuyder Zee project would have been realized according the original plan conceived by Cornelis Lely B Sc (see the Wieringen page for details), Marken would now have formed a part of the Markerwaard polder. Happily that didn't go through and as a result we can still enjoy the real 'island feeling' here, with water up to the horizon in every direction you look.

Marken is not a natural rise in the land, like Urk or Wieringen. These islands have cores of boulder clay that was pushed up during the most recent glacial period, and therefore they have been able to fairly bear the erosion by the water through the centuries. Marken, however, is just a piece of polder land, as flat as a pancake, that at a certain moment in time lost its connection with similar polder land on the mainland of Holland and thus became an island. It is assumed that this happened by the end of the twelfth century.

Monks played an important role in building the first dikes in this area. The name 'Monnickendam' still reminds of that fact. In 1251 Marken came in the possession of the Norbertine monastery of Mariëngaarde in Hallum, Frisia. The monks accomplished very much here, building a dike around the island, introducing agriculture and founding two farm houses on the island. But halfway through the fourteenth century the Norbertines were forced by the count of Holland to leave Marken, which made an end to their beneficial monks' work (the equivalent for 'donkey work' in the Dutch language is 'monnikenwerk' or monks' work).

Till the end of the fifteenth century agriculture, and specifically cattle breeding, would remain the principal livelihood on Marken. But the island's soil settled and became more and more brackish, making it less suitable for agricultural purposes. As a result, more and more islanders switched to fishing and by the end of the sixteenth century Marken had become a fishing place. However, it would last till deep in the nineteenth century before Marken would get a harbor to offer the island's fishing fleet a sheltered berth. 

Like on the other Zuyder Zee islands, the people of Marken had to fight a continuous struggle against the water. After fishing replaced agriculture as the principal livelihood on the island, less energy was spent on the preservation of the land and the maintenance of the dikes, resulting in more frequent floodings. Large parts of land fell prey to the water and people and livestock lived under a constant thread.

The people of Marken armed themselves against the water by building their dwellings on mounds, here called 'werfs'. Once there were 27 of these 'werfs' on the island, 12 of which fell prey to the sea in the course of time. Of the remaining 15 'werfs' 12 are still inhabited today. One is being used as the island's cemetery, so in a certain sense it can also be considered to be 'inhabited'. 

The rise of fishing caused and increase of the island's population. Historical records show a population of 250 by the end of the fifteenth century; about 1620 that number had already tripled to 750. As building space on the 'werfs' ran out the islanders started to build houses on stilts to keep their feet dry. Those two elements, the clusters of houses built on the 'werfs' and the stilted houses, are very typical for Marken and still clearly visible today. But as the frequent floodings now belong to the past the lower floors of most stilted houses have been walled up and added to the living space.

The nineteenth century brought many changes. In 1825 work started on the construction of the Goudriaen Canal, from Amsterdam through the Waterland region to Marken, and subsequently cutting right through the island to the Zuyder Zee. The canal was intended to offer ocean shipping traffic to Amsterdam an alternative for the Noord-Holland Canal to Den Helder, but the idea was abandoned in 1828. The present skating rink of Marken is one of the remnants of this unsuccessful project. 

In 1837, at last, the island got its fishing harbor, which was extended in 1870. Ironically, about that same time plans for damming off the Zuyder Zee and draining extensive parts of it began to take definite shape, plans that would eventually finish off the fishing activities on Marken (see the Wieringen page for details on the Zuyder Zee project).

In 1932 finally the time had come: the Afsluitdijk was completed and the Zuyder Zee became IJsselmeer, a freshwater lake with little opportunities for the offshore fishing. Immediately following the enclosure of the inlet its reclamation was undertaken energetically. The Wieringermeerpolder was the first one to stand clear of the water, in 1930; the Noordoostpolder followed in 1942. The Markerwaardpolder was scheduled to be the next in line, so in 1942 work started at the northern point of Marken on building the western dike of the new polder. But after having built slightly less than two kilometers the work was stopped; the Second World War that had broken out was dictating other priorities.

After the end of the war the work on the Markerwaardpolder was not resumed at once. The rebuilding of the country's basic infrastructure that had been ruined in five years of war and German occupation was given more priority. By the time that the most urgent tasks in this area had been accomplished and recommencement of the Zuyder Zee project was being considered, in the winter of 1953 the southwestern part of the Netherlands was struck by the heaviest storm surge of the twentieth century, claiming the lives of over 1,800 people. The repair of the dikes in the delta area and the development of the Delta plan to prevent such a disaster from happening ever again became, of course, the first priority. The draining of the IJsselmeer could wait.

Marken in Google Earth
(click on the image
to enlarge)

When in 1955 the Zuyder Zee project was finally resumed the ideas about the order of realization of the remaining polders were changed. It was decided that the next polder to be realized would not be the Markerwaard, but to give priority to the the eastern Flevoland polders, including projected major population centers like Lelystad and Almere instead. Work on the Markerwaard was limited to building a two kilometer-long stretch of dike between the south point of Marken and the mainland. At the moment that this dike was completed in 1957 Marken was no longer an island. 

Oostelijk (eastern) Flevoland stood clear of the water in 1957 and Zuidelijk (southern) Flevoland followed in 1968. By that time doubts had already arisen concerning the advisability of the Markerwaardpolder. Anyway, work started on the construction of the polder's outer dike, between Enkhuizen and Lelystad, and its completion in 1975 created the Markermeer (Lake of Marken), a separated part of the IJsselmeer.

About this time those opposing the realization of the polder were gaining more and more support. Their principal argument was the fact that the need for more farming land in the Netherlands, which always had been the main reason for the reclamation, was no longer pressing. Instead, they pointed at the importance of an open Markermeer from a point of view of nature conservation, recreation, tourism and water management. The politicians put a definitive decision off and nothing happened for years. Time passed by in favor of the opponents.

But during the nineties it seemed that the polder would still be realized. The champions of the Markerwaardpolder came with new arguments and plans. There was a need for room to build a new national airport, for house-building and for recreation parks. Alternative plans were brought forward in which only the northern part of the polder, including an airport, would be realized and the southern part could remain open water. But when by the end of the nineties the government opted for expansion of Schiphol Airport at its current location, the Markerwaard as location for a new airport seemed to be definitively superseded. 

The champions, however, united in the Vereniging Vrienden van de Markerwaard (Friends of the Markerwaard Association) have not given up all hope yet and continue promoting the new polder and developing new plans. For the time being the only visible evidence of the polder plans are a curious, 27 kilometer-long traffic route right through the water of the IJsselmeer between Enkhuizen and Lelystad and a meaningless, almost two kilometer-long blind dike on Marken, called the Bukdijk ('Stooping dike') by the local population. Plus the dike that connected Marken to the mainland and changed the island into a peninsula, of course. But that dike would probably have been built anyway, regardless of the Markerwaard plans. 

Plan for the reclamation of the Zuiderzee / IJsselmeer by Cornelis Lely (1916).
1 - Wieringermeerpolder,
2 - Noordoostpolder,
3 - Oostelijk Flevoland,
4 - Zuidelijk Flevoland,
5 - Lauwersmeerpolder,
6 - Markerwaardpolder.

A walk around on Marken

Marken has pleasant dimensions for making a walk around its outer dike, although different sources do not agree on the exact length of such a walk. The newspaper 'Trouw' settles on 10 kilometers and adds 3.5 more if you also want to walk to the end of the Bukdijk (and back). An itinerary printed in the Amsterdam paper 'Het Parool' states 11 kilometer including the Bukdijk. Two local people are telling us, independently, that a walk around without the Bukdijk is 8 kilometers long, so I think that 'Het Parool' is closest to the truth. Anyway, it's a perfect walk around for an early spring afternoon.

The trip to Marken goes, alas, by car, although riding along the two kilometer-long dike does give you some feeling of going to an island. If you really want to do so you still can go to Marken by boat. There is a ferry service for pedestrians and cyclists from Volendam, which brings you across the Gouwzee to Marken in just half an hour. But this ferry only goes during the tourist season, from April to October. So, on this Tuesday in March, we have to get along on the dike. 

From the central parking lot, where every visitor has to leave his vehicle on payment of a substantial parking fee (€ 3.85 for a car with three occupants) it is barely a five minutes walk to the harbor, where our route begins. The street signs here show funny names like Buurt (Quarter) I, Buurt II, Buurt III and Kets. These are not really streets but 'werfs', the man-made mounds on which clusters of houses have been built.   

For most tourists a visit to Marken is limited to some strolling around in the Kerkbuurt and the Havenbuurt, including an obligatory visit to the little house of Sijtje Boes, the most famous inhabitant of the island, which is now a souvenir shop. Today, however, there are no busloads of foreign tourists taking photographs, on the hunt for locals wearing their traditional costumes who are willing to pose for them. The tourist season hasn't begun yet. Even a cup of coffee isn't an option, as all restaurants on the harbor seem to be hermetically sealed. Sijtje's shop is open, but with no customers in sight.

In landing stages in the harbor basin are crowded with yachts and cabin cruisers, some of which looking quite expensive. Fishing boats are absent. The fishing fleet of Marken is dead and gone for long. We walk around the harbor and onto the dike. According to our route description we will now soon leave the masses of sauntering tourists and stinking hot dog stands behind us. In reality, it is completely deserted. A stiff winds blows from the west, from across the Gouwzee, as usual here. The spring sun that was promised fails to break through the clouds so far.

After just over a quarter of an hour's walk we already arrive at the northern point of the island. Here the Bukdijk begins, reaching out some 1.7 km into the sea towards Volendam on the mainland and forming the northern boundary of the Gouwzee. We go through a gate onto the uneven, grass-grown dike. Here you only hear the sloshing waves and the wind in your ears.

Halfway the dike a flock of sheep is grazing. The color stamps on their backs indicate that most of them must be in lamb. A farmer is busy collecting the ewes that will be the first to lamb in the trailer of his tractor. When we ask him how he knows which ones to pick he shows a well-thumbed notepad, in which he has jotted down the ear numbers of the ewes and the dates that they have been covered. Sometimes logistics can be so simple!

We walk to the end of the dike and look across the water at Volendam on the mainland. The wooden houses along the dike, the outline of the St. Vincent's church above it and the lampposts near the football stadium of FC Volendam, the club that is not doing very well at the moment, it all seems to be misleadingly close. 

Volendam and Marken, they're often bracketed together, but they are separated by more than just this stretch of water. Because there, across the water, they are Catholic and engaged in frivolities like music and football; here they are Protestant and things are taken much more serious. But on top of that, those from Volendam are mainlanders and the folks from Marken are islanders, and there's a world of difference between them. 

Here, at the very end of the Bukdijk, is probably the place on Marken where the 'island feeling' is at most present. The vastness of the IJsselmeer makes you forget that this is not really a sea anymore, that there are no remote coasts lying beyond that horizon but just a prosaic dike. Looking out over the sea you can feel the presence of the mainland at your back, the mainland that you belong to but where you're not a part of. You are an outpost that's being looked at from the mainland with some envy; after all here you are closer to the horizon than over there.

With or without such philosophic thoughts we walk down the dike, back to the island. The farmer appears to have his share of sheep together for today, as we see him riding ahead of us, his cart full. Very slowly, along the uneven dike, as lambing should preferably not begin before he is back home. 

The present lighthouse was built in 1839, upon the foundations of an earlier tower that was broken down that same year. The Zuyder Zee still was open sea by then and the lighthouse was of great importance for the shipping traffic to and from Amsterdam. In 1901 the tower got electric light. After the damming of the Zuyder Zee the lighthouse remained operational and to this very day it continues to be an important beacon for the shipping on the IJsselmeer. In 1989 the lighthouse was automated and since then there is no longer a light keeper living on Marken. 

The 'Horse of Marken' stands on its own tiny island at the end of a narrow causeway and is almost completely surrounded by water, which makes its location so photogenic. Particularly in winter, when after a long period of frost during which the IJsselmeer was largely frozen over the thaw set in and the ice was starting to drift you could shoot spectacular pictures here. Like in 1971, when the wind piled up the ice up till the roof of the keeper's house. It didn't cause much damage to the residents, as the walls of the house are extra heavily constructed. Nowadays such severe winters have become very rare. 

Looking out over the infinite sea thoughts comes to your mind about what it would have looked like here when the Markerwaardpolder indeed had been realized. In Mr. Lely's plans Marken would only be bordered by the sea on its west side. The east point of the island would point into the polder and the 'Horse' would stand there, a bit lost, on a vague mound in the middle of the fields. No, then it's far more preferable to keep it here as it is now.

We have now reached the most eastern point of our round tour and walk back to the harbor along the southern dike. The sun is now making serious attempts to break through the clouds. At our right hand, between the meadows, we see the Oostervaart, a wide ditch that remains of the construction of the controversial Goudriaen canal in 1825. The canal was projected to run into the sea right here, south of the lighthouse, making Marken to a sort of outport of Amsterdam. The canal was obsolete before it was completed, but it provided Marken with a decent ice rink. That's to say, provided that there is any freeze in winter.

Further to the west we go, past the Moeniswerf that is situated somewhat inland, towards the Rozewerf straight ahead. Of all 'werfs' this one lies closest to the sea and its inhabitants had more than others to fear the floating ice during severe winters. To prevent the drifting ice from shoving onto the dike and crushing their dwellings they built wooden wedge-shaped constructions in the water along the dike with the purpose of breaking the ice. These ice aprons served them usefully during the winters of 1971 and 1979.

Shortly after passing the Rozewerf the dike that links Marken with the mainland lies ahead of us. Three sturdy wind turbines mark its outset, which will deliver a substantial contribution to the production of electricity with today's stiff wind. They're fine from an environmental point of view, that's right, but yet also a bit out of tune in this small-scale landscape, those giants with their fiercely spinning propeller blades. 

We cross the motorway and continue to follow the path along the west coast, back to the harbor. With the Gouwzee on the left hand and the sun behind it is a pleasant walk here, much more pleasant than when we started our tour. A bench on the dike invites to take a short break. Can you enjoy a brown cheese sandwich more than while sitting on a bench in the sun, looking out over the Gouwzee? Probably yes, but today I am very content with it!

Ahead of us the Havenbuurt is already emerging. Just a little while and we're back at our starting point, having completed our round tour. The appropriately-named restaurant 'Land en Zeezicht' (Land and Sea View) now appears to be open and we go inside for a cup of coffee. Here we run into the only foreign tourist that we see today: a Spanish lady with two children. Anyway, it's only March. Just come back here in July!

www.waterland.nl
Official website of the Waterland Municipality to which Marken belongs. Includes a photo tour of Marken. Dutch language, with tourist information also in English.

www.eilandraad.nl
Website of the 'Stichting Eilandraad Marken' (Island Council of Marken), with actual and historical information on the island. Dutch language only.

home.tiscali.nl/thijsvandetoren.nl
Homepage of Thijs and Liliane Spijker, since February 2003 the residents of the lighthouse 'Het Paard van Marken'. Dutch language only.

home.wxs.nl/~napel/slidshow.htm
Homepage of Harm Joris ten Napel, resident of Marken, with an intersting photo gallery about the island. Dutch and English language.

www.vbij.nl
Website of the 'Vereniging tot Behoud van het IJsselmeer' (Association for the Preservation of the IJsselmeer), devoted to managing the IJsselmeer in a sensible and dynamic way from a scenic, cultural-historic, hydraulic and environmental point of view. Dutch language only.

www.markerwaardpolder.nl
Website of the 'Vereniging Vrienden van de Markerwaard' (Friends of the Markerwaard Assiciation), which supports and promotes the reclamation of the Markerwaardpolder. Dutch language only. 

March 2004