Research

Project Bulskampveld Registration and rating of the artisan subcollection in Bulskampveld In 2015-2016 the MOT worked together with the province of West Flanders on the registration of the artisan part of the collection in Bulskampveld. The province called upon the MOT’s expertise for the scientific identification of the extensive collection of tools. The collection had not yet been thoroughly registered and was mostly unavailable for the general public. Every object was photographed, measured and entered into the database by the provincial collectionregistrator. Based on that information, the MOT was able to provide the identification, the description, the rating and an announcement of the object on www.erfgoedinzicht.be. Approximately 6700 objects were registered during the project, making up about 80 percent of the entire collection. Each object was given an extensive description of its shape, function and use. The objects belong to 55 different trades, which illustrates how varied...

Artists at the MOTIn the 19th and 20th centuries, many painters took to the outdoors with their easel to immortalize landscapes and buildings on canvas. Grimbergen was very accessible to painters and tourists from Brussels: there was a good tram connection, there were numerous inns and they found the peace that they lacked in the city. From this period dates a rich collection of Grimberg landscape paintings. You can read about them in the book "Grimbergen in de kunst" (1992).The municipality of Grimbergen owns many paintings that depict the Grimbergen landscape and its architectural heritage. Others can be found in private collections. Various reproductions of these paintings were exhibited in the Oyenbrugmolen in the summer of 2018. A year later, paintings of the Prince's Castle were exhibited in the keep. This was the reason for the MOT to photograph those works of art on which the buildings of the museum are depicted. After all, they do not only have an art value, but also a great...

Making wattle hurdles Part of the MOT staff went to visit Aart Horden in Everdingen (The Netherlands), a former hurdler with a very suitable surname who still has a lot of knowledge about making hurdles (horden in Dutch). Hurdles are the braided willow screens that were often used in the past to stop sheep and other animals from escaping, as a gangway in scaffolding on the construction site, as an attic floor in farms, at dyke reinforcements, as a temporary bridge to cross a ditch, as an agricultural tool to cover the seed on the field, etc. . At first glance simple weaving, but the knowledge and skill of a real hurdler cannot be underestimated. Here some images as an impression of this interesting visit.

Broeck 22, Bever, Belgium