Szadvar castle project and youth camp, Hungary

Another multinational team took Szadvar under siege this March! The siege took two days only and the troops from Morocco, China, Mongolia, Germany and several other countries have conquered the walls and baileys of Szadvar. There was even an alpinist team joining them to climb the walls and help them taking the castle!

It was only 40 people who managed to take the castle (ruins) back from the overgrowing vegetation and other non-welcome elements like pieces of trash. Surprisingly during the siege the new owners also took care of the wooden furniture and the modern building elements - they have covered those with a defensive laque to make sure the weather does not wear them down earlier than planned.

Finally this March we got the wether conditions to hold the 'Save the Castle Days' and the actions described above took place around the lower and high castle, too. The multinational team had arrived from the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest where students from around the world attend a doctoral course. They represented almost half of the team cleaning Szadvar.

We are now preparing for the next, our Summer excavation event, the 'Save the Castle Week'. At the same time the association will be 20 years old this Autumn, which we would like to celebrate with our partners and supporters.

Thank you for being one of them! Please expect an invite this October to Szögliget, Hungary.

Yours, The Friends of Szadvar

PS. Please check out the video below made by a Dutch volunteer living in Hungary!

Links:

• Our homepage
• Event teaser video

In the last few months, several smaller projects have been launched by the Friends of Szadvar regarding our beloved castle. Unfortunately, the usual autumnal event (Save the Castle Days) had been canceled due to weather conditions, which means that we could not clean the castle as it had been planned before. In spite of this, we could organize an in-person meeting on site where some of the most important organizations involved in our project were presented. Let’s see what has happened since the middle of August!

We observed in the last few years, that the weather is mostly sunny around Szadvar castle, except on the very weekend when the event is planned to be held. The same happened this October, the hill was so muddy due to the heavy raining that we could not reach the castle and the actual work became pointless but not completely. We invited the representatives of the most important organizations regarding our project, so we could sit down and talk about the most urgent things about the castle. It is very important to meet once a year to clarify the roles and tasks of each institution e.g. municipality, museum, national park etc.

The number of open-access publications has also increased since summer, as a new 3D reconstruction project was launched by a Hungarian GIS company. A short spectacular film shows us how should we imagine the life in the castle 3-400 years ago. We are very proud to be the subject of this projekt!

Another article was also published about the Association and the legends of the castle by one of our team members in a famous Hungarian magazine.

Next year, Friends of Szadvar will turn 20 years old. We are already preparing for the event, we would like to celebrate the past 20 years and the volunteers and supporters in a dignified manner: we are preparing with a celebration, a commemorative plaque and small gifts.

Thank your for being with us, in the name of the Association, I would like to wish You and Your family Happy holidays!