On July 20, 2017, the Thomas Wimmer municipal vocational school center for construction and arts and crafts on Luisenstraße in Munich opened its stonemasonry and woodcarving workshops to the public, explicitly targeting classes from general education schools. The opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of the professions presented was met with great interest. Hartmut Hintner, design teacher for stonemasons and stone sculptors, […]

On July 20, 2017, the Thomas Wimmer municipal vocational school center for construction and arts and crafts on Luisenstraße in Munich opened its stonemasonry and woodcarving workshops to the public, explicitly targeting classes from general education schools. The opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of the professions presented was met with great interest.

Hartmut Hintner, design teacher for stonemasons and stone sculptors, stood in the middle of his audience and explained the contributions to this year’s summer exhibition. A guided tour to inform any future pupils about the training opportunities for wood sculptors, goldsmiths, stonemasons and stone carvers at the school complex on Luisenstraße. After the general part, the classes were divided into smaller groups and were allowed to try out their skills in a total of five work areas. In addition to the established stone carving and wood carving stations, this time there was also calligraphy, lettering, a printing workshop and the opportunity to discover bronze chasing. Hartmut Hintner: “Our students show interested visitors how we work here. Visitors can also try out for themselves how to work stone or carve wood. Our aim is to highlight career opportunities and raise our profile.” This is why Headmaster Hans Seger wrote to grammar schools, secondary schools and middle schools in Munich and the surrounding area and invited their graduating classes and refugee classes to the open workshop day. The concept was well received, with many acceptances. Hintner was delighted: “Many young people from the surrounding schools also came along, as did our alumni, of course.”

In the printing workshop, which was set up for the first time, Barbara Quintus and her colleagues had come up with a program that even inexperienced people could manage. “The aim here is to achieve beautiful results with little effort,” she explained. This was achieved, for example, by pulling a thread soaked in paint out from between two sheets of paper that were pressed together using a pressure plate. The popularity confirmed Quintus’ approach – the printing workshop was very well received.

At the stone carving station, visitors were able to carve lettering and try out various hand tools on a block of shell limestone. Here, however, the visitors to the open workshop were somewhat more passive: there seemed to be a great deal of reverence for the material. Many preferred to watch sculptor Dana Knop as she engraved letters into the Jura limestone slab blow by blow, while the hammer blows typical of stone carving rang out.

On Thursday, April 27, 2023, the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Munich will open its doors as part of Boys’ Day. Three young people will then have the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of the metal restoration workshop. Applications are still possible!

On Thursday, April 27, 2023, the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Munich will open its doors as part of Boys’ Day. Three young people will then have the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of the metal restoration workshop. Applications are still possible!

For the second time, the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historic Monuments in Munich is inviting exclusively male young people on Thursday, April 27, 2023, as part of Boys’ Day, in order to make the idea of studying restoration present in their minds. This is particularly important as men are only poorly represented in the field of restoration. After all, more than 90 percent of first-semester students on restoration courses are women, and women also make up two thirds of the members of the Association of Restorers (VDR).

On the agenda:

• a guided tour of the restoration workshops of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments
• examining works of art with a magnifying glass
• hammering patterns and inscriptions into copper sheets
• taking paint samples and preparing them for microscopic examination
• examining specimens under the microscope

A lunch break is planned between 12 and 1 pm.

In the restoration workshops of the Building and Art Monument Conservation Department, the young people can then see how works of art and monuments are researched and restored. They can try out historical craftsmanship techniques and use magnifying glasses and microscopes to try to trace the past of a work of art.

Anyone interested in taking part in Boys’Day at the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments in Munich can contact the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments at presse@blfd.bayern.de by April 21, 2023.

What is Boys’Day?

Boys’Day – the Boys’ Future Day – is a nationwide orientation day for vocational orientation and life planning for boys. It is sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

On Boys’Day, boys learn about professions or fields of study in which the proportion of men is below 40 percent, e.g. in the fields of health/nursing, education/social work or services. Or they take part in workshops on career and life choices or role models.

The video shows what Boys’ Day and Girls’ Day are all about:

Where does the name Boys’Day come from?

The name is based on Girls’Day. This is because, based on a survey in 2001, 10 to 15-year-old girls in school classes and girls’ clubs chose the name Girls’Day as their clear favorite. This is why Boys’Day was also given the name Boys’Day when it was created in 2010.

New paths for boys

Boys’Day emerged from the New Paths for Boys project, which is a nationwide network and specialist portal for boys’ career choices and life planning.

Initiative Klischeefrei – Career and study choices free from gender stereotypes

Boys’Day supports the Klischeefrei initiative. The aim of this initiative is to establish a career and study choice free of gender stereotypes throughout Germany. The initiative includes the responsible federal ministries, the Federal Employment Agency, social partners and representatives from the federal states, science, practice and business.

Boys’ Day professions are professions in which men are outnumbered. Here you can download the complete list of professions as well as a selection of Boys’Day professions.