Economic Growth Hungary Project #2132

Szadvar castle project and youth camp, Hungary

by Friends of Szadvar (Szadvarert Barati Kor)

Szadvar castle project and youth camp, Hungary

Project Report | Nov 28, 2018
Building walls and giving thanks

By Janos Dobos | Project Leader

Heroes of Szadvar

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.

Arrival to the castle hill

The revealed door in the lower castle

Students at work

Lunch in the clouds

Wall conservation

The record-breaking team

Links:

Friends of Szadvar Home

Permalink

Aug 29, 2018
Szadvar builds relations

By Janos Dobos | Project Leader

The walls of the Lower Castle

Szadvar is a perfect example of places which bring people together. Although it is just a ruin now, it still has the power of building a bridge between villages, other castles and even countries!

In the Middle Ages two noble castles stood high above this area of the Hungarian Kingdom. Today Szadvar is located in Hungary and Torna (Turniansky Hrad) is in Slovakia. The distance between them is just 10 miles but a borderline was drawn to separate them. But they are not separated anymore.

Both buildings are ruins now and were meant to slowly disappear from the face of the Earth. But just as Szadvar has got its saviors - Friends of Szadvar, the people of Torna have also founded an organization (Castrum Thorna Civil Partnership) and have been working for years to save the remains of that fortress for their grandchildren. This year the international collaboration between us reached the next level: the members of Castrum Thorna Civil Partnership have participated in our ’Save the Caste’ week. Similarly, we have participated in the ’Castles and Castle Ruins Night’ event on the other side of the border in Slovakia.

As we have already proudly reported, our efforts were recognized this year by the Hungarian government by selecting Szadvar to support by the National Castle Program. This led to a longer and more extended excavation in the castle than ever before. This activity of course was controlled and driven by the responsible archeologists of the Herman Otto Museum. The goal of the program is to search, clean and conserve some of the more ‘interesting’ parts of the castle and create spectacular attractions which would bring more tourists to this hidden part of the country.

Due to that, during the ‘Save the Castle week’ this year we had the opportunity to work not only in the upper castle but also in the lower fortress which was a surprisingly huge building and still has 40-50 feet high walls! It was once the fortified lower station of the ’csiga’ – a medieval elevator which had been used to pull water and wood and other supplies to the higher castle. It might have been a wooden ’railroad’ where a horse powered ‘dry mill’ was pulling a carriage from the lower castle. Traces of the wooden rail structure carved in the stone were found on the side of the castle hill.

But most of the volunteers were working uphill, where four new excavation trenches were opened on the northern wall of the outer bailey (this is where the elevator used to arrive). Probably because of the National Castle Program there were many fresh faces among us. We were very happy because many young people became interested in saving a part of our cultural heritage. Everyone had an exciting time finding artifacts such as parts of ceramics, coins, musketeer bullets and other several hundred years old artifacts. The excavation and the conservation works will continue next year. We will keep you posted!

Please see some pictures from the events in Szadvar and in Torna (Slovakia). Both events were wonderful experience and we are sure that this collaboration will be fruitful for both castles and for the people dedicated to save them.

You can find more photos on our website (Hungarian):

https://www.szadvar.hu/2018/08/beszamolo-a-xi-varmento-hetrol/

https://www.szadvar.hu/2018/08/varak-varromok-ejszakaja-tornan/

Thank you again for your help!

Friends of Szadvar

Volunteers from Torna (Slovakia)

Artifacts from the trenches

Event in Castle Torna (Slovakia)

See you in Szadvar

Links:

Friends of Szadvar home page

Permalink

Jun 1, 2018
Summer excavation gets bigger

By Janos Dobos | Project Leader

Szadvar from the south

Our events, like the ‘Save the Castle’ days (March 16-17th) are of course outdoor activities. You cannot save a castle just sitting inside the living room, can you? But that also means weather is a key factor in the success. And this time it was a disaster. Heavy rains and even snow was forecasted for the weekend. Despite that many of us have travelled to Szögliget to meet the team and to breathe in the fresh air and take some walks in the forest and even up in the castle. But there was no opportunity to do much. We will have to take care of the cleaning of the castle in the summer.

On the other hand, it was great news that Szadvar was selected to be supported by the National Castle Program. This is a great achievement for the Friends of Szadvar, too. Without the hard work made there in the last 11 years it surely would not have got the attention from the politicians - who now decided to help this far and hidden part of the country.

That also means that much more extended excavations will take place this year than ever before. The whole fortification will still not be revealed. That would take much more money and time. But at least certain points of the castle will be dug out and preserved.

The affected parts are the following:

The lower castle – which once was the lower point of the horse powered elevator in the castle.
The Lisztes (Flour) bastion
The gate of the castle
The Nemet (German) bastion – with a lookout to the north-east

See the attached layout and pictures showing the places. Of course, we will join to the excavations for one week with volunteers and try to help as much as possible.

It was also made clear that after the Castle Program ends we need to maintain our activities. The status of the castle does not change. This is a significant help in our job, but it does not end here. The archeologists say we still have enough secrets to find in Szadvar for the next 100 years.

We hope you will continue with us on that journey. Szadvar has not been saved yet!

Thank you again for all your help!

Friends of Szadvar

Planned locations for digging

The Gate & Lisztes and Nemet bastions

Gate tower and Csonka bastion

Links:

Friends of Szadvar home page

Permalink

‹ 1 ... 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ... 19 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.