Szadvar castle project and youth camp, Hungary

In our previous report written in April, you could read in how many different ways our volunteers had been acting during the Covid restrictions in Hungary. Although we could not meet in person, we were not lazy to look for new opportunities, especially on different media platforms. Fortunately, the pandemic situation has improved since April, which led to the realization of our annual 'Save the Castle' week.

Back in May, precisely on the 23th, the opening ceremony of the restored Szadvar castle was held in Szogliget, where many of our members had the privilege to join. As You may know, with the help of the National Castle Programme, several stone wall sections were renewed, plus a save visitors' path has been established on the territory of the castle. The results speak for themselves. Based on the social media posts of visitors and the observations of the local people, Szadvar castle has become more popular day-to-day. After the speeches of the invited government officials and the president of our association, a pleasant reception was held where new friendships were formed.

Thanks to the visitors, more and more people get to know Szadvar castle. In the last few months, we had the great opportunity to speak about our activities on different media platforms: through interviews, tv and radio reports. We would be delightful if more and more people could join us to save our cultural heritage.

In our previous letter we reported that the renovation of the castle received a prestigious award from the Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS. In the meantime, there was also an award ceremony which was attended by the architect designer of the castle. It is an honour to have been a part of this project!

Following the mitigations in Hungary, the second National Meeting of Archaeological Communities could be held in Szigetújfalu, organized by villages on Csepel Island. After last year's pleasant memories, we were glad to participate again in this initiative. On one day of the multi-day event, archaeological lectures and demonstrations attracted those who were interested. Perhaps due to the Covid situation, there were fewer visitors than last year, but we spend a very enjoyable day on the banks of river Danube. 

Certainly, the most awaited event in our association's life was the annual 'Save the Castle' week, which took place in Szogliget, in early August. The week before the event was a bit stressful, because we continuously asked each other: Will the epidemic and weather factors prevent us from our conservation activities? Fortunately, the weather was stormy only a few times, so the cca. 30 volunteers could enjoy the beauties of archaeology. The first hours and days were spent carrying away the huge stones so that we could finally get down to the last walking level, which contained the lost objects of the people of the castle who had lived centuries ago.

Next time we will hopefully meet in October, meanwhile we are constantly working in the background on different projects and plans. Thank You for reading this report!

Links:

• Report on the opening ceremony