The Hondsbossche Sluis is the historical lock in the center of Zaandam, The Netherlands. After some five ages the lock still functions and is operated by a group of fifty volunteers.

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The latest news

Closed

The lock is closed until Good Friday 2024. The 2024 annual calendar can be found here here. The lock is operational on the green data.

Passages

In 2023, 8,358 ships will have passed through the lock. The busiest day of the year was Sunday June 25, 2023 with 249 passages. During the sailing season there were 23 days (out of 172 days in operation) when there were no passages at all. Those were the days when the pumping station was running and the lock had to remain closed. In September this was even six days in a row and then also the last weekend of the season. This is the overview of the number passages 2015-2023.

Registrations

New volunteers are very welcome! If you would like to be a lock keeper, please contact the board of the Volunteer Lock Keepers Hondsbosschesluis Zaandam Foundation by using the contact form at the bottom of this page.

Nautical day

A nautical day will be organized in the Zaanse port area on April 13, 2024. The initiator for that day is the harbor master, on behalf of the municipality of Zaanstad. Numerous nautical activities will be organized to show the general public something of the past and present of the port area and its significance for the development of Zaanstad. The lock will also present itself on that day. There will be a magnet fishing competition for the youth and a lock quiz, both with great prizes. The captain's choir will perform twice and attention will be paid to the history of the lock through two large signs; one about the period until the opening of the Wilhelminasluis and one about the 20th century to today. .

Exhibition: farewell to the Zaanse Community Foundation

The Zaanse Community Foundation ceased to exist on March 26, 2024. After the liberation, there was a clear need in the Zaan region for community activities that supported the recovery of Zaan society. The foundation has carried out numerous activities and supported groups of volunteers for over 75 years: the Zaanse Sports Prize, the Saint Nicholas arrival in Zaandam and also, since 2014, the volunteers of the Hondsbossche Sluis. Under the direction of the city archives, a small exhibition about the rich history of the Zaanse Community has been set up in the civic hall of the City Hall. The Hondsbossche Sluis has also been given a few display cases, filled with some lock attributes and a historical timeline from 1544 until now. Go see that! Until May 27, 2024!

Stories about the lock

The Zaandamse excess, March 2024: “Between 1609 and 1718, there was a wooden ramp to the west of the Hondsbossche Sluis to drag ships over the dam from the Binnenzaan to the Voorzaan: the Zaandam 'overtoom'….”

Cottages and 'smuigers', July 2023: “There are two houses on the south side of the lock. They were built in 1724….”

The bridge was open…. , April 2023: “If you thought that getting stuck in traffic is a modern annoyance…”

A lock keepers family, February 2023: "In 1935, Cornelis Swartsenburg and his young family lived at Hoogedam 11, in the cramped, damp house on the southeast side of the lock...."

Near miss, December 2022: "This photo from 1955 shows that there was not only sailing and waiting in the lock...."

Lock keeper Groot, December 2022: “The photo below from 1930 clearly shows that recording memories is full of pitfalls...”

Contact

You can send a message to the board of the Volunteer Foundation Hondsbosschesluis Zaandam using the form below. For example, to register as a new volunteer or to give tips, ask questions, share an opinion or send a compliment.

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