Sint-Pieterscollege's enrichment project at maakleerplek

Students uncover the history of the Molens van Orshoven

During the final term of the 2021–2022 school year, around thirty students from Leuven's Sint-Pieterscollege left their regular classes each week to work together on projects at maakleerplek. They explored the history of the site, the Molens van Orshoven. Discover what they made and learned below.

Sint-Pieterscollege's enrichment project was organised for students who need additional challenges because of their strong cognitive abilities. ‘Students of different ages work together on a project for two lessons each week. The wide range of subjects gives them room to be themselves, think outside the box and stay motivated at school,’ says teacher Ingeborg Verheyden.

Photo: Erfgoedcel Leuven, An Minnen

Exploring the city archives

For two months, students from Sint-Pieterscollege explored the fascinating history of the Molens van Orshoven. Their first stop was the city archives.

More about the archive visit ↗

Wet plate collodion

Alongside the images they found in the archives, they made ‘archive images’ of their own. With help from experts Ward Collin and Wouter Elsen of Studio De Beer, they used wet plate collodion, a photographic process dating from the nineteenth century.

More about wet plate collodion ↗

Photo: Erfgoedcel Leuven, Jan Crab

Photo: Erfgoedcel Leuven, Jan Crab

A podcast with a miller's descendant

To explore the site's history through a personal story, a group of students focused on making a podcast with Dominique Van Doren.

More about the podcast ↗

A Wikipedia article

Another group put their writing skills to work, gathering their findings about the former grain mills into a Wikipedia article.

More about the Wikipedia article ↗

Photo: Erfgoedcel Leuven, Jan Crab

Photo: Erfgoedcel Leuven, Jan Crab

maakleerplek as a base for learning

Through the enrichment project, maakleerplek and the City of Leuven want to show that the site can be a stimulating learning environment for schools in Leuven and beyond. Students can learn and make together here. To give this a physical form, some students helped build an educational igloo.

More about the educational igloo ↗

Visiting the city archives

The students toured the city archives and explored the history books, looking for useful information and interesting facts about the Molens van Orshoven. They also found many original photographs of the former grain mills and their workers. Some archive images were enlarged and printed, and can now be seen at maakleerplek.

Photos: Erfgoedcel Leuven, An Minnen

The students also found many original photographs of the former grain mills and their workers. Some archive images were enlarged and printed, and can now be seen at maakleerplek.

Photos: Leuven City Archives

Wet plate collodion

Wet plate collodion is a hands-on craft process, very different from today's digital photography. After experts Wouter and Ward introduced the large-format camera, the students learned to pour collodion onto a plate and carry out the darkroom steps needed to sensitise the plate and develop the photographs.

Photos: Erfgoedcel Leuven, Jan Crab

First, the young people explored portrait photography, making beautiful portraits of each other. Then they turned to architecture and city photography. Their task was to recreate photographs found during the archive visit using the collodion process. Alongside recreating images from the previous century, they made striking photographs that included the site's modern features.

Photos: Ward Collin and Wouter Elsen of Studio De Beer

A podcast with Dominique

Dominique Van Doren is the great-granddaughter of a miller, a custodian of the Molens van Orshoven, and lived on the site as a child: an ideal interviewee. The podcast is full of anecdotes about life and work at the mills. Leuven production company De Chinezen, based across the street from maakleerplek, helped the students conduct and record the interview. Its team advised on asking questions and provided office space and equipment for the recording.

Part 1: The mills through the years

Part 2: Childhood at the Vaartkom

Part 3: Leaving the Vaartkom

Part 4: Working in the mill

Listen to the full podcast here:

Photos: Erfgoedcel Leuven, Jan Crab

A Wikipedia article

A copywriter, Erfgoedcel Leuven and Wikimedia Belgium guided the students in writing their Wikipedia article. The students also digitised historic photographs from the city archives to illustrate it.

Read the Wikipedia article

Photos: Erfgoedcel Leuven, Jan Crab

An educational igloo

The students designed and built the igloo with a group of young architects from b00t vzw. With its cosy seating area and plants, the educational igloo in the silos serves as a base for classes and groups visiting maakleerplek or the Vaartkom.

Photos: Erfgoedcel Leuven, Jan Crab

Presentation on 10 June 2022

On Friday 10 June 2022, the students presented the results of these projects at an official showcase at maakleerplek.