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.

In the second part of the field report by our Baumeister Academy alumni Maximilian Graber, he reports on what to expect as a Mendrisio student at the Accademia.

In the second part of the field report by our Baumeister Academy alumni Maximilian Graber, he reports on what a Mendrisio student can expect at the Accademia.

Critiques with assistants and professors take place on a weekly basis. Guest critics are invited to the interim and final presentations. This means a constantly high level of stress in the design, which is further increased by the semester-long projects of the humanities or technical-scientific courses. Most students catch up on work at the weekend that they don’t have time for during the week. Studying at the Accademia di Architettura is intensive in every respect. There is only one subject from morning to night: architecture. And if you’re not talking about your own project, you’re trying to help your colleagues come up with ideas. Sixty of the approximately seven hundred students call the Casa dell’Accademia, not far from the academy, their home. The community lives in two three-storey blocks of flats opposite each other in complete transparency, not just with each other but literally towards each other. This creates an unmistakable sense of community that enriches life together, especially in summer.

“Mendrisio students are even well-known among laser companies in the Italian hinterland.”

Model making is very important at the academy in the truest sense of the word. Despite limited technical resources, the students manage to create impressive models in all scales and materials every semester. Although the academy’s workshop is well equipped with its own plaster and concrete room, paint room, wood workshop, styro and laser cutters, it is more than busy at peak times. As a result, the condition of some machines during the semester leaves a lot to be desired. Appointments for the two laser cutters can be booked online and are limited to two hours per week for each student (10.00 – 18.00). Mendrisio students are therefore even known to laser companies in the Italian hinterland. However, there is a concrete mixer and appropriate equipment for casting models in the “Sala Gesso”. This opens its doors with the same booking principle, but is permanently accessible during the final handover. Students from the Aires Mateus, Holtrop and Miller studios are the main crowd here. Once the concrete has hardened, the students transport the small masterpieces to their studios using lift trucks. Once there, the workrooms are transformed from a mountain of rubble and cardboard into a magnificent architectural exhibition within a single night. For four weeks, professors, assistants, students and their families, as well as numerous visitors, can marvel at the models.

“The Academy is the engine of Mendrisio: it runs like an Italian Vespa after a general overhaul.”

After a year, I can now say that the Academy is the engine of Mendrisio. However, it doesn’t run like Swiss clockwork, but rather like an Italian Vespa after a general overhaul: well lubricated with the occasional misfire. In the same way, the university has its own quirks, its own life. But over the years, the students have developed some methods of escaping the daily hamster wheel of work, pizza and pasta and leaving the microcosm of Mendrisio behind them – at least mentally. The best way to do this is with a trip to Milan, a short trip into nature or one of the countless parties in and around the university campus. However, Mendrisio has incredible potential at an academic level. The level of achievement among the students is high, as is their motivation. Although there is a sense of competition, it becomes secondary thanks to open exchange and lively discussions. Architecture at the Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio is therefore not just a course of study, but a living passion.

Click here for the first part of the Mendrisio experience report…