8 Most Prominent Dutch Symbols And Their Meanings

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For most people, three things come to mind when they hear the Netherlands: Amsterdam, windmills, and tulips — and wooden clogs, sometimes. These things have come to symbolize this small but beautiful country sandwiched by Belgium and Germany in Western Europe.

While it is a modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products — second in the world, in fact, trailing behind the United States.

It ranks in the list of the world’s top producers of fruit and vegetables, but tulip bulbs are its largest produce. The Netherlands, also called Holland, provides 4.2 billion of these bulbs per year and exports half of them.

There are around 1,200 maintained and protected windmills in Holland which have become world-famous icons of the Dutch landscape.

These two things — tulips and windmills — are associated most with Holland, hence its moniker “the land of windmills and tulips.” But the Dutch nation is packed with other world-famous icons — and that’s what this post is about.

Here are 8 of the most prominent Dutch symbols. Some have symbolic meaning, some don’t — but all represent and serve as prominent icons of the Netherlands.

8 Most Prominent Dutch Symbols And Their Meanings

1. Windmill

The name “Netherlands” literally means “Lowlands.” That’s how it is — flat and below sea level.

For this reason, the land was always getting flooded, making farming almost impossible. This prompted the building of Dutch windmills — to answer the need to remove the water from the land. Windmills pump the water out of the Netherlands.

From then on, breathtaking landscapes with windmills across the country became a symbol that adds to the beauty of the Netherlands.

While windmills are associated most with Holland and serve as a traditional symbol of the nation, their symbolism is universal. Windmills symbolize life, serenity, resilience, and self-sufficiency, as well as perseverance in a harsh environment.

2. The Dutch Lion

Lions are not native to Europe and they haven’t existed in Western Europe for thousands of years, but this animal became a popular symbol of strength and power throughout European history. In fact, the lion is widely considered as a national symbol of Holland.

The Dutch lion is featured on the royal coat of arms of the Netherlands, where it is depicted as holding arrows (which denote the provinces) and a sword (which symbolizes power).

William of Orange-Nassau, fighting against the Spanish king and creating the then-republic of the Netherlands as a result, used the lion as part of his coat of arms. This resulted in the lion becoming one of the symbols of Dutch resilience and independence.

3. The Color Orange

The national color of the Netherlands for hundreds of years, the color orange symbolizes the country and denotes national pride.

The entire nation dresses in orange on King’s Day (currently 27 April, King Willem Alexander’s birthday) and an orange pennant is flown above the Dutch tricolor during. The Dutch people wear the color on pretty much any national occasion.

The Netherlands’ love affair with this bright color started with the famous William of Orange-Nassau, aka William the Silent, who was crowned Prince of Orange in around the middle of the 16th century. He was so loved by the Dutch people that the color orange became a symbol of the Dutch Royal family.

Orange used to be part of the Dutch flag, but because it was difficult to make and less visible at sea, the color was changed to red between 1630 and 1660.

4. The Tulip Flower

Tulips, just like the Dutch lion, are not native to Holland. They were brought to the country from the East by Dutch explorers in the 16th century. The flowers flourished and came to be known as one of the most typically Dutch things there are.

The tulip flower is often used as the icon of the Netherlands and has been associated with the country for more than 400 years although the flower is originally from the wilds of Persia.

The tulips have come to symbolize the friendship that blossomed between the Canadian and Dutch people during World War II, when Canada provided a safe refuge for the Dutch Royal Family and also helped to liberate many Dutch people. Following the war, Holland gave 100,000 tulip bulbs to Canada and continues to do so year after year.

In symbolism, this flower generally represents perfect and deep love. Different color, however, connotes different meaning. For example, the white tulip symbolizes respect. The yellow ones were said to be the symbol of hopeless love and jealousy, but in recent years they have come to be representative of happiness, cheerfulness, and hope.

5. Klompen (Wooden Clogs)

Klompen, or wooden clogs, are the heavy wooden shoes with thick wooden soles that have become as quintessentially Dutch as the windmill and tulip.

Klompen (singular: klomp) are a really old symbol of the Netherlands, dating back to the early 13th century, when they were designed for protection of the feet of farmers, fishermen, factory workers, artisans, and other trade jobs — generally, the peasants and the lower classes. The klompen provided protection and comfort from harsh elements such as snow, mud, manure, and water; and they kept the feet dry.

Inspiration for the klompen was taken from the Roman “calceus” shoes, which had a wooden sole and leather straps.

While there are still some farmers who wear them today, for most Dutch people the wooden clogs are just an image that is used to promote their country.

6. Gouda cheese

Gouda, or “How-da” as the Dutch say, is a sweet and creamy, yellow cow’s milk cheese named after the Dutch city of Gouda. This Dutch cheese is mild, similar to Edam except that it contains more fat.

Gouda cheese is named after the city south of Amsterdam, in the province of South Holland. However, it is not where the cheese was created but where it was originally distributed, specifically the famous cheese market found in Gouda. Gouda cheese is said to date to the 12th century — since at least 1184, according to records. This cheese is generally made in South Holland.

This famous cheese that has come to represent Holland is one of the oldest of European cheeses and one of the best cheeses in the world. It is also among the most widely imitated in other cheese-producing countries.

7. Flag of the Netherlands

The flag of the Netherlands dates from the Eighty Years’ War, from 1568 to 1648, which was the war of independence between Spain and Holland. The rebel provinces fought under William of Orange, bearing the colors of the coat of arms of the House of Orange-Nassau.

These original flag colors were orange, white and blue. However, the orange bar gradually changed into a red one, due to the difficulty creating the color and its less visibility at sea.

Each band of color in the modern Dutch flag holds symbolic meanings for the Netherlands, which are as follows:

Red: symbolic of bravery, strength, valor, and hardiness

White: represents peace and honesty

Blue:  denotes vigilance, truth, loyalty, perseverance, and justice

8. Delft Blue

Delft Blue, also called Delftware or Delft pottery, is the world-famous earthenware that the Dutch city of Delft — in the province of South Holland — has been producing since the 1600s.

Delft Blue, while Delfare potters call it “porcelain,” was not made from the typical porcelain clay but from clay that was coated with a tin glaze after being fired. But despite the fact that it’s cheaper than Chinese porcelain, Delft Blue has achieved unparalleled popularity, even becoming an iconic symbol of the Netherlands.

At the peak of Delftware, there were 33 factories in the city. Today, however, only Royal Deft still exists. Nevertheless, Delft Blue remains a very Dutch thing to the world and a prominent icon that represents the Netherlands.