Szadvar castle project and youth camp, Hungary

Let me proudly inform you about the finish of the latest conservation works in Szadvar. There are a few parts of the castle walls which are still standing tall, at some points more than 12 meters (40 feet) above the ground. Those might have been higher or stronger structures originally or were defended by the forest more effectively. Anyway, despite the 330 years of ruination they remained the witnesses of the late castle holding essential information about the building. On the other hand, these walls were exposed to the weather conditions, mainly the winds which slowly removed the mortar from the wall, leaving loose stones on the top of the wall. This is of course dangerous for the visitors and for the volunteers who are working under the walls to save the castle.

Reinforcing the last of those remaining high walls was our greatest achievement at the end of last year. As mentioned in our previous report, this wall stands on the north side of the inner bailey between the Csonka (Truncated) bastion and the Konyha (Kitchen) bastion. Please see the photos for the results.

As every year, winter is about planning, reporting to authorities and preparing for the events of the year. We have paid a visit to the Herman Otto Museum in Miskolc to negotiate the conditions with the museum leaders for this year’s excavation week in the summer. We are also preparing for our next event, the Save the Castle days (March 15-16th).

More changes are expected in Szadvar starting this year due to the National Castle program. That focuses mainly on the lower castle – which was almost completely excavated last year and it will partly be reconstructed. Only parts of the higher castle will be touched by the castle program though, due to the limited funds. So our work is still needed, volunteers can still contribute to keeping the castle in the current conditions and save it for the future. Also, since Szadvar is located in a far and poor part of the country, next to a small village, the long-term maintenance needs to be arranged and supported.

Last year we were trying to find more volunteers in schools, reaching out to teachers and students around the country and mostly in the Szadvar area. We had received positive responses and many children appeared on our events.

But we also wanted to understand what moves other people to help and do volunteer work. That led to the idea of creating a survey, shared over the social networks and on our homepage. It was responded by many people, too. This will help us to understand what we were doing good and which are the areas where we need to improve and put more effort. We have asked about our past events but also about potential new ones we could organize e.g. hiking competition, another Siege day etc.

Of course we would not be able to reinforce walls, support excavations and organize events without your valuable donations.

Thank you again for your help!

Links:

• Friends of Szadvar home page
• Friends of Szadvar survey (Hungarian!)

Let us proudly inform you about a record-breaking ‘Save the Castle’ days in October 2018. This fall, almost 60 people have decided to devote their long weekend and their spare time to help and join us. It was even more gratifying that 40 out of that 60 were high school students!

Hungary is not a big country, but it is still humbling to mention that most of the volunteers arrived from far reaches – from the cities Gyor (43!) and Pecs (2). But regardless how far they came from, everyone was working hard cleaning the castle area from the growing vegetation and moving the stones close to the construction areas. We were able to spend two busy days working in the castle as this time the weather was perfect and supportive for our activities.

Of course, we also found time to check out the results of the summer excavations. Several new details have been revealed including the entrance of the lower castle on the east side which was a complete surprise. It was not expected to be there as the medieval imageries showed it on the west side – where the wall has disappeared probably due to the water flows from the hill.

On top of the summer excavations we managed to initiate conservation works this year, too! A section of the wall which is still standing high was considered a dangerous area for the visitors of the castle. It is located on the north wall of the inner bailey - between the Csonka (Truncated) bastion and the Konyha (Kitchen) bastion. Using the funds we managed to gather, this remaining threat will have been eliminated by fixing and enforcing the wall structure.

Friends of Szadvar were also invited to a conference held by the National Cultural Fund. Our organization was called upon to make a presentation about our activities in the last 12 years. It was a great honor for our president to stand in front of the architects and authorities who are responsible for the Cultural Heritage of Hungary and talk about the great achievements which have been done in Szadvar.

As you must know, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Hungary. But if it would, Friends of Szadvar would have a lot to give thanks for. We are thankful that there are people in the country who can share our passion and concern about the cultural heritage Szadvar represents. These unbelievable results could not have been realized without our supporters and volunteers. Thanks for all the help we were receiving from various people and organizations. And of course, we are grateful for the donations we receive from all over the world.

Thanks to you.

Links:

• Friends of Szadvar Home