Education
From Flanders Today
The City Archive in Leuven has invited children to put together personal almanacs for 2021, to accompany an exhibition opening in January. The idea is to reflect the way people in centuries past personalised their journals, adding notes in the margins or using them as a safe place to keep letters, news clippings and other papers.
The Leuven City Archive has more than 200 printed almanacs in its collection. Each is built around a calendar of the year to come, with astronomical observations and predictions, church holidays and other practical information.
“The oldest is from 1716, and was printed in the Gulde Lampe house in Muntstraat,” explained Denise Vandevoort, city councillor responsible for culture. “The most recent almanac dates from the 1930s, and was published by the city. It can be seen as a forerunner of the current Leuven Yearbook.” The city’s Yearbook is a guide for residents featuring information about local services, administr