Master-apprentice trajectory

Our oven builder Gerrit van den Dries has lots of knowledge and skills, and his craftsmanship is a form of intangible cultural heritage. In order not to lose this, the Flemish government awards scholarships to pass on that knowledge in a master-apprentice trajectory. Master Gerrit van den Dries and students Ante Corthals, Koen Wisse and Mathijs Huyghebaert achieved such a grant. The master will pass on his knowledge of bread oven construction (and later also half-timbered building) to his students. The MOT supports this trajectory, by acting as a host for their building projects. Soon the museum will have a perfectly working bread oven. A win-win situation!

Restoration of the bakeoven at the Liermolen 

For 30 years, the MOT has used the baking oven in the bakery on the Liermolen intensively during the Atelier Brood, Bak-Does and other activities. It was rebuilt in the 1980s, but not according to the rules of the art. So it was high time to renew the oven. In 2019, the master and his students got to work and in January 2020 the furnace was operational again. 

Quite an improvement 

The old oven had several construction errors and drawbacks and is therefore completely demolished and replaced by a new oven. The oven floor was flat, causing poor air circulation, The oven floor was rectangular with rounded corners, making it colder in the corners than in the rest of the oven, The vault was too flat and there was a kink in the oven mouth, causing the smoke lingered in the furnace. The furnace mouth had a raised edge, making it difficult to squeegee the ashes from the furnace. The oven was too big (for 50 loaves) for the museum's purposes, so too much wood was needed to heat the oven.

timelapse van de restauratie van de bakoven aan de Liermolen