• Since 2017, STAWAG has been supporting summer vacation offers from the Route Charlemagne and the Ludwig Forum Aachen.
• The Aachen Museum Service is offering a total of 15 workshops from mid-July to the end of August.
• The offers range from the herbarium of colors to the water laboratory, the Roman workshop and a painting workshop on Amy Sillman's current exhibition "Oh, Clock!" in the Ludwig Forum.

For curious, inquisitive children and young people between the ages of six and 16 who are interested in history, art and nature, like to be creative and want to have fun during their vacation, the Aachen Museum Service is offering a total of 15 workshops during the summer vacations. One-day workshops cost 5 euros, multi-day workshops 10 euros. Water and fruit are included.

"During the summer vacations, children and young people can travel to exciting worlds in our museums. It's a varied program for everyone who enjoys researching, creating and doing things themselves," says Irit Tirtey, Managing Director of Kulturbetrieb Aachen. STAWAG has been involved in the vacation games offered by the Route Charlemagne and the Ludwig Forum for many years.

Pia vom Dorp, Head of the Museum Service of the City of Aachen, emphasizes: "The workshops take the participants from the fountains in the city centre to the forest, which played an important role in Charlemagne's life. The Aachen city foundation saga is just as much a topic as the famous delegation from Baghdad, which reached the Aachen Palatinate in 802 with the elephant Abul Abbas. And there is much to discover on the most popular topic of city archaeology!".

The offer could not be more varied: In the Herbarium of Colors in the Ludwig Forum, nature becomes art in the botanical color laboratory. It's all about experimenting and trying things out, colors are made from plants and in the end a book inspired by the plant world is created. The activities accompanying the exhibition at the Centre Charlemagne focus on the history of the city from early settlements and the Romans to the present day. In the Roman workshop, you can learn how to carve bones and find out how useful everyday objects were made in ancient times.

"As a water service provider for Aachen and the region, we naturally think the 'Water Lab' workshop is great, as it sensitizes children to the topic of water and its origins. The 'Herbarium of Plants', on the other hand, changes the children's view of nature in a positive way when they learn how colors can be made from plants in an environmentally friendly way. This fits in wonderfully with our commitment to producing energy from renewable energy sources in an environmentally friendly way. What we particularly like about the format of the summer holiday offers, however, is that it is inexpensive and therefore family-friendly," emphasizes Kirsten Haacke from STAWAG.

SUMMER HOLIDAY OFFERS MUSEUMS 2025
WISSENSREPORTER*INNEN in the Route Charlemagne / sponsored by STAWAG
SUMMER HOLIDAY PROGRAM for children and young people aged 6 to 14
Museumsdienst Aachen | 15.07.- 21.08.2025
one-day workshops 5€ / multi-day workshops 10€ / including fruit and water

K1: Wet and wetter - stories about water / 7 - 12 years
Di 15. – Do 17. Juli 2025 / 10 – 13 Uhr / dreitägiger Workshop / Centre Charlemagne

Aachen's water is visible to everyone in the fountains in the city center - the streams, on the other hand, are not so easy to find. There are also many myths and legends about water. In the exhibition and on excursions around the museum, you can hear and see a lot about this and create or print works of art with clay and acrylic paint in the workshop.

Head: Pia Güntner and Julia-Anna Preisler
Cost: €10

K2: KARL AND THE FOREST / 7 - 11 years
Di 22. – Do 24. Juli 2025 / 10 – 13 Uhr / dreitägiger Workshop / Centre Charlemagne

The forest played an important role in Charlemagne's life. According to the legend of the founding of Aachen, Charlemagne came across a hot spring while hunting in the Aachen Forest. He immediately recognized its healing properties and had the foundations for the Palatinate laid. But that is of course a legend... We do know, however, that Charles issued clear rules on the use of the forest.

For example, forests should only be cleared where arable farming was also worthwhile and the forest should not be overexploited, so interventions should be made carefully. Quite clever! The forest was also important for the supply of food and raw materials. You can learn a lot about this in the workshop and create your own works with natural materials in the workshop.

Head: Pia Güntner and Julia-Anna Preisler
Cost: €10

K3: ANTIQUE CRAFTS / 8 - 14 years

Tue July 29, 2025 / 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. / one-day workshop / Centre Charlemagne

The Romans were in Aachen before Charlemagne. There is an exhibition about this at the Centre Charlemagne. After the tour, you can learn about Roman crafts in the museum workshop. How did the Romans make string in everyday life? What is the sculpture of antiquity? Experience "bone work" and be creative with ancient materials and tools.

Leader: Samira Idries and Joachim Werthmann
max. 16 participants
Costs: 5€

K4: ANTIQUE CRAFTS / 8 - 14 years
Wed July 30, 2025 / 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. / one-day workshop / Centre Charlemagne

The Romans were in Aachen before Charlemagne. There is an exhibition about this at the Centre Charlemagne. After the tour, you can learn about Roman crafts in the museum workshop. How did the Romans make string in everyday life? What is the sculpture of antiquity? Experience "bone work" and be creative with ancient materials and tools.

Leader: Samira Idries and Joachim Werthmann
max. 16 participants
Costs: 5€

K5: Traveling with an elephant / from 6 years
Do 31. Juli – Fr 01. August 2025 / 10 - 13 Uhr / 2tägiger Workshop / Centre Charlemagne

In the year 802, Charlemagne received a special gift from the Orient: an elephant named Abul Abbas. Abul Abbas and his companions had traveled a long way from Baghdad to Aachen. And he is said to have been white - but is that true? You can find out all about this story in the workshop and paint and print pictures of Abul's journey in the museum workshop.

Management: Pia Güntner and Anne van Dyken
Cost: €10

K6: Secrets from the ground - Archaeology LAB / 8 - 14 years
Di 5. - Do 7. August 2025 / 10 – 13 Uhr / dreitägiger Workshop / Centre Charlemagne

Aachen is an ancient city and the city's archaeologists are constantly finding new pieces of the puzzle of the past during their excavations. But what exactly do archaeologists do and why are their discoveries often significant? In the history lab, you can learn a lot about this and get to know scientific working methods. This includes dating methods such as dating with layers of soil, wood or ceramics. You can try out archaeological tools such as calipers, calipers and microscopes for yourself.

Head: Johanna Malich and Anne van Dyken
Cost: €10

K7: Palatinate master builders wanted!/ 8 – 12 Jahre
Di 12.- Do 14. August 2025 / 10 – 13 Uhr / dreitägiger Workshop / Centre Charlemagne

The Aachener Pfalz was built in just 10 years - without excavators, forklifts, trucks or folding rules! How was it built back then? Which craftsmen were involved? What materials and tools were used? How was it all transported to Aachen? And what did the Palatinate look like in Charlemagne's time? What was involved? What models were there? And how do we know? After a tour of the exhibition and the Palatinate district, we will draw and build the Palatinate.

Head: Johanna Malich and Sabine Blazy
Cost: €10

K8: ARCHAEOLOGY WORKSHOP / ages 6 and up
Tue August 19, 2025 / 10 am - 1 pm / Centre Charlemagne

Aachen is an ancient city and the city archaeologists are constantly finding new pieces of the puzzle of the past during their excavations. What tools do they use? How do they determine whether the find is old? And who do the finds actually belong to? You can find out a lot about this in the history lab and try it out for yourself in the museum workshop.

Head: Kathrin Pilipp-Jeiter and Julia-Anna Preisler
Cost: €5

K9: FABRIC WORKSHOP / ages 6 and up

Wed August 20, 2025 / 10 am - 1 pm / Centre Charlemagne

There is a lot of talk about counterfeiting these days. But "fakes" are nothing new; counterfeiting has probably always been around. Forgers were also active in Aachen. For example, they copied valuable pieces of jewelry from Charlemagne's treasury. In the museum, you can view paintings, coins or pieces of jewelry and make your own copies in the museum forger's workshop.

Head: Kathrin Pilipp-Jeiter and Julia-Anna Preisler
Cost: €5

K10: MIDDLE AGE WORKSHOP / ages 6 and up
Thu August 21, 2025 / 10 am - 1 pm / Centre Charlemagne

What was it like in Aachen in the Middle Ages? Where did the emperor live? Was his palace heated? Where did he bathe? What did the princesses do all day? And what did they wear? You can find out a lot in our exhibition and in the history lab and create a work of art in the museum workshop.

Head: Kathrin Pilipp-Jeiter and Julia-Anna Preisler
Cost: €5

Z1: Photography workshop - exciting museum views / 10 - 14 years
Tue 22 - Fri 25 July 2025 / 10 am - 2 pm / four-day workshop / International Newspaper Museum

Get out your cameras and start experimenting in Aachen's museums! Interesting and quirky shots, great professional tips and camera art - that's what this photo course has in store for you. We'll experiment with technology from cell phones to professional cameras for your works: you'll learn the know-how of design and technology and learn lots of tricks that you can use for your pictures. Bring your cell phones and cameras. Other cameras and laptops (e.g. for image editing) are available on site.

With Dorothea Flatau, photographer and visual artist
Cost: €10 / max 10 participants

SUMMER HOLIDAY COURSES AT LUDWIG FORUM AACHEN 2025 / sponsored by STAWAG

L1: Herbarium of Colors / 6 - 12 years
Mon 14 - Wed 16 July 2025 / 10 am - 3 pm / three-day workshop / Ludwig Forum

Nature becomes art in the botanical color laboratory. In three steps, color is experienced in a completely original and new way: Just like thousands of years ago, we make colors from native and sometimes forgotten plants. Just like a hundred years ago, we follow the paths of naturalists and train our eye for the details of nature. Like contemporary artists, we embark on a creative process.

It's all about experimenting and trying things out. We make colors from plants and let the plants inspire us. We draw and paint the plants with the resulting color and design a book in which we creatively record the results of our botanical color laboratory.

Vacation course with Vera Berg, fashion designer and civil engineer
Cost: €10 / max 10 participants

L2: Silk Painting Experiment / 8 - 14 years
Wed 06 - Fri 08 August 20205 / 10 am - 3 pm / three-day workshop / Ludwig Forum

The artist Amy Sillman approaches painting again and again with a new perspective, changing and updating it. Sometimes she works in many colors, sometimes monochrome, mostly abstract - always with the joy of experimentation! In this three-day workshop, we will apply our inspiration from Amy Sillman's exhibition Oh, Clock! to the special material silk. The result is fascinating paintings with color effects and gradients.

Vacation course with Petra Herzog, artist
Cost: €10 / max 10 participants

L3: Oh, to be a Painter! / 10 – 15 Jahre
Wed 13 - Fri 15.08.2025 / 10 am - 3 pm / three-day workshop / Ludwig Forum

True to the motto "follow your own impulses", this painting course is about an intuitive approach to working with colors and shapes. We use brushes, sponges, fingers and our whole bodies to explore pictorial spaces that are not planned in advance and only emerge through the act of making. Everyone can discover the joy of painting. We will use the exhibition Oh, Clock! by Amy Sillman, which is running at the same time, as a starting point for our own large-format paintings.

Vacation course with Leena Lübbe, artist and assistant to Amy Sillman
Cost: €10 / max 10 participants

L4: Hüttisti / 10 - 14 years
Tue 19 - Thu 21 August 2025 / 10 am - 3 pm / three-day workshop / Ludwig Forum

As hutists, we build detailed miniature models. We think about who could live in our huts and how we could design the living space of these tiny beings and creatures. Small, mysterious worlds are created from sheet metal and natural materials such as branches and wood.

Vacation course with Céline Leuchter, scenographer and Elli Ott, artist and boat builder
Cost: €10 / max 10 participants

www.museumsdienst-aachen.de