Szadvar castle project and youth camp, Hungary

You might be wondering what kind of finds we bring to the surface in Szadvar during the summer excavation week? Well, first of all of course the waste of the medieval times: many-many ceramics. But we also dig up valuable things, personal objects of use and coins. Those also help the archeologyst to identify the age of the layer we are digging in. Then huge amount of bones and various metal objects are found. Only the ones which can survive 300+ years in the ground, of course.

But what happens with those things after we found them? Of course, they end up in the Museum at Miskolc. More precisely, in a storage warehouse, because the amount of objects are really huge and not all of them worth restoration and presentation. Also, the space in the museum is limited. Therefore the Museum's management came up with a great idea: they created a “Látványtár” (Spectacle storage) where the curious and interested enthusiasts like us can see the objects directly in the storage, with enhanced visibility of the stored finds. Our members also visited that place and identified some of the objects they found themselves among the castle ruins.

We had 2 significant events in the last few months , the springtime “Rescue the Castle” days in March and a conference in the city of Gyor, where we met the great people from one of our partner organizations, a construction high school study group. They were celebrating 10 years of their activity, which is to bring the students to monuments and historical sites in the flesh and raise their interest for the cultural heritage. Gyor is in the western side of Hungary, and this group was taking the 5-hour bus trip to Szadvar to volunteer and help us almost every year. So in return we paid them a visit and celebrated with them in a very exciting and interesting conference event.

We also have to stop and take the time to remember some of the members of our association who are no longer among us. One of them is Gabor Bubenko, who passed away this year. He did a lot to make Szadvar and its location known by his photos and videos. We will always remember him and his legacy.

Links:

• Friends of Szadvar home site

At this time in winter, people usually slow down, fewer programs are organized, especially outdoors. Our beloved Szadvar castle is also under winter hibernation, the silence of nature is not disturbed by any of the enthusiastic castle rescuers. Of course, this does not mean that we do not work in the background.

Shortly after our last report, we organized the 32nd 'Save the Castle' Days which were unfortunately spoiled by the rainy weather. However, we could do mowing, stone moving and cleaning for at least half a day with the help of the students of a construction school. It rained the next day as well, so this time the usual event ended too soon.

Some days after, the castle and its surroundings hosted a large-scale event called 'Compressport Szadvar Trail', which included a cross-country running race. Many runners came to join, also from across the border, from Slovakia, and the total number of the participants was around 200. Hard ground conditions and terrain obstacles made their path difficult, but they were compensated by the fact that they were able to run in a fabulously beautiful, historical landscape, in the most colorful and beautiful season. After hours of running, the first six places were awarded, but the competitors also received hot food and drinks. We were glad that so many people got to know the castle and its surroundings. See you next year!

Many years ago, on a cold winter day of 14 January 1567, an important event took place in the life of Szadvar Castle. Zsofia (Sophia) Patocsy, wife of the captain Gyorgy (George) Bebek, was forced to give up the castle after four days of hard gunfire attack against it. We respectfully bow our heads year after year to her heroism and that of the castle defenders. In memory of this, we placed a wreath on the statue of Zsófia Patócsy this year as well.

Beside these events, our members and joined volunteers are working hard in the background to prepare the programs of 2024. This includes searching for sponsors and new volunteers, writing applications, redesigning our leaflets and making small gifts for donors. Among our plans, there is the launch of a new kind of program, sometime during May, when the overgrown vegetation would be mowed down with the help of joining volunteers. We also expect the newly contacted schools to join as well.

We are really looking forward to March, so that we can meet again in beautiful spring weather within the walls of Szadvar. Join us if you can!