The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2023 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.

The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2018 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.

2013 was a ground-breaking year for Plavecký Castle, particularly because after more than 300 years, the caste objects have been restored and statically reinforced and the brickwork has started to increase rather than decrease. In the past years, static and architectonic-historic research of the selected objects has been performed.

Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Interior of the SR via the grant program “Restore your House”, a successful architectonic-historic research of the Western renaissance palace continued as well as reinforcement works at the object of Renaissance ravelin.

SW wall of the 1st ravelin

This segment concerns late gothic wall with crenellation dated to late 15th century, including simple cleft embrasures, which was rebuilt in 17th centure for about 1,7 m, involving breast wall with butterfly embrasures with wooden capping. Today, east and west sections of the fortification are well-preserved. West section of the breast wall was restored in 2014. From the point of view of the overall stability or imminent threat of collapse, the most dangerous part was the torso of the SW wall of the fortification with the break over the access road to the castle. Therefore, in 2017, the brickwork of 3,5 m3 has been added to the wall and two embrasures have been restored in its lower part, which stabilised the entire SW wall and prevented its destruction. This phase concerned a problematic object of the castle, which was successfully restored and stabilised to save for next generations. In 2017, it was necessary to build scaffolding in difficult steep terrain from the exterior up to 12 m of height and 6 m from the interior part to stabilise the tower. Subsequently, scuntions of the embrasures were restored first, followed by oak capping and brickwork of the wall and breast wall. This was a logistically complex process, for which all material for the static works needed to be manually transported for about 50m, which represented approximately 15 tons of material in total. There has been dozens of Belgian scouts helping to restore the castle during summer holidays, who performed support works, such as cleaning of the castle from weed, relocation of stones, water and sand, as well as helping during archaeological research of the Northern gothic palace and pillars of the renaissance bridge leading to the upper castle.

The entire work at the given objects was done by quality manual work, while using original materials (stone collected from the surface of the castle) and technologies (preparation of middle age hot lime mortar with usage of pozzolan additives – Metakaolin). The works took place from June through October, whereas this time period gave us enough time for the carbonisation of mortar before freezing weather.

The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2017 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.

The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2022 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.

The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2021 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.

2013 was a ground-breaking year for Plavecký Castle, particularly because after more than 300 years, the caste objects have been restored and statically reinforced and the brickwork has started to increase rather than decrease. In the past years, static and architectonic-historic research of the selected objects has been performed.

Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture of the SR via the grant program “Restore your House”, a successful reinforcement activities of the North Gothic Palace continued in 2016.

North Gothic Palace

The palace is a three-floor object, which was added and inserted into the material of the older gothic fortification, including brick gallery and finished by embrasure in 15th century . Today, it has the best preserved north external wall and partially also south wall, which was statically reinforced in 2015. From the point of view of the total stability or risk of collapse, the riskiest part of the palace was its west wall torso. In 2016, maintenance and completion of the brick work in the volume of 29 m3 was done, as well as a number of architectonic details was renewed, as well as headboard console and niche of the third floor, partial renovation of the renaissance garderobe, and older crenelle and original embrasure on the outer part of the façade of the northern wall of the palace, stabilisation of the window and entry apertures on the first and second floor, which stabilised the entire northern wall of the palace and therefore prevented its collapse. This was the most risky objects of the castle, which was successfully maintained and stabilised for next generations. V roku 2016 bolo potrebné pre samotné statické zabezpečenie veže postaviť lešenie vo veľmi obtiažnom teréne z interiéru do výšky 11 m a exteriéru a do výšky 18 m a nad vyše 100 m hlbokou roklinou. In 2016, for the particular static reinforcement of the tower, it was necessary to build scaffolding in a very difficult terrain from the interior up to 11 m of height and from the exterior up to 18 m of height over 100 m deep fall. The entire process of static reinforcement was logistically complex and required transport through three pulleys, which represented over 73 tons of material. Dozens of Belgian scouts helped with the works at the castle during summer holidays, who helped with support works, such as clearing of the castle from wind pollination vegetation, transported rocks, water and sand. In the end, his Excellency, Willem Van de Voorde, Belgian ambassador, visited the castle and supported our efforts.

Progress of works on renewal of the scuntions of the nich and side brick work of the 3rd floor

The entire work at the given objects was done by quality manual work, while using original materials (stone collected from the surface of the castle) and technologies (preparation of middle age hot lime mortar with usage of pozzolan additives – Metakaolin). The works took place from June through October, whereas this time period gave us enough time for the carbonisation of mortar before freezing weather.

The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2016 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.

2013 was a ground-breaking year for Plavecký Castle, particularly because after more than 300 years, the caste objects have been restored and statically reinforced and the brickwork has started to increase rather than decrease. In the past years, static and architectonic-historic research of the selected objects has been performed.

Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, through the grant programme “Restore your House”, reinforcement works on the objects of the eastern tower core, Renaissance crenelles between the wall of the bailey and front gate, static reinforcement of the window openings of the west walls of the front gate, static reinforcement of the north wall of the West palace of the front gate and static reinforcement of the wall of North palace successfully continued.

Eastern tower core

The tower is a three-storeyed early gothic object from the 13th century, which makes it the oldest part of the castle. Today, only external west wall is preserved. From the point of view of the overall stability or a possibility of collapse, the biggest issue was the body of the tower itself. Therefore, in 2014, it was remedied and masonry of 23 m3 was added, which partially stabilised the entire eastern wall of the gate and prevented it from a possible destruction. In 2015, works continued in another stage, when the window openings of the first and second floor were restored on the basis of measurements done in 1970s and photo documentation and 29 m of new masonry was added, which stabilised the entire body. In 2016, the last stage of the tower static reinforcement will be completed, which should include other 15 m of masonry. In 2015, for the tower static reinforcement itself, it was necessary to build scaffolding from the exterior up to 18 m of height and for the interior up to 12 m of height. The process was logistically difficult, which meant that all material necessary for the static reinforcement needed to be transported through three pulleys, which ultimately represented more than 70 tons of material.

Renaissance crenelles between the wall of bailey and front gate

Brick degradation and partially missing bricks damaged the object of renaissance crenelles between the wall of bailey and front gate. The headers of the crenelles built by wooden lintels, except for one crenelle, were completely missing and the masonry above them was degraded. The crown of masonry was missing a binding mortar and, it faced a risk of collapse above the crenelles. In order to statically reinforce it, it was necessary to build the scaffolding from the inside of the court up to 6 m and to suspend a platform from the scaffolding to the exterior needed for the completion of masonry of the bailey corner. Then, existing masonry around the crenelles was jointed and the scuntion of the crenelles was restored. Next step represented an installation of original wooden oak lintels of 7 – 8 cm wide according to the marks after the original lintels. Also, it was necessary to do the masonry on the crown of the cross wall with a guard row made of stone masonry of ca. 30 cm high and Southern ending of the cross wall was stabilised by masonry works on the part of the wall of bailey corner.

Static reinforcement of the window openings of the front gate west wall

The original openings of the Renaissance crenelles in the front gate west wall had their parapets, lining and arched headers damaged. Also, due to their close distance, there was a risk of collapse of the pillar between the windows and so the entire masonry above them up to the crown. In order to completely stabilise them, it was necessary to add 1,5 m of masonry to the pillar between the windows by addition of masonry of scuntion and parapets as well as both arched windows. The entire static reinforcement was preceded by construction of the scaffolding from the exterior side up to 4 m high. Then, parapets and scuntion of crenelles were restored and wooden centerings were built as well as window arches of both crenelles.

Static reinforcement of the West palace of the bailey northern wall

The object is a three-storeyed building from the second half of the 16th century. On the level of the first and second floor, there was a big cavern, which endangered the statics of the entire wall, and if collapsed, the entire silhouette of the castle would suffer a great loss. Therefore, this cavern was restored so the risk of collapse would be prevented. The entire process of restoration consisted of building of the scaffolding from the inside part and masonry works on the cavern in the volume of 4 m3 and restoring of two original wall pockets.

Static reinforcement of the West palace of the bailey northern wall

The works consisted of static reinforcement of the last piece of the gothic Northern palace, which would be destroyed and so the last piece of the palace wall would vanish. However, it was stabilised by masonry works on the cavern in the volume of 2 m and by jointing works on the face side, which stabilised the entire body of the last piece of the palace wall and saved it for the next generations.

The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2015 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.

Total view at Gate Tower after static securing works in 2014

2013 was a ground-breaking year for Plavecký Castle, particularly because after more than 300 years, the caste objects have been restored and statically reinforced and the brickwork has started to increase rather than decrease. In the past years, static and architectonic-historic research of the selected objects has been performed.

Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture of the SR via the grant program “Restore your House”, a successful securing activities could continue in 2014 as well, namely on the object of Gate Tower and Garderobe of the west outer bailey of the palace.

Gate Tower

Gate Tower is a three-floor renaissance object belonging among the most preserved parts of the castle. Its most conserved parts are east, west and south external wall. From the point of view of its total stability or risk of damage, the most unstable was the south (entry) external wall of the tower, as well as its west wall, which was rather statically affected. In 2013, the cavern was maintained in the volume of 1,5 m3 in the wall foundation, which stabilised the entire east wall of the tower and prevented its possible destruction. In 2014, static damage was maintained on its south and west wall, which required 15 m3 of new masonry work.

Removal of roots of the wind pollination vegetation and disassembly and clearing of the wall to sound foundation

In July and August 2014, the works at the west wall of the Gate Tower started, which included in masonry reconstruction of the destructed part in the volume of 12 m3, including renovation of the window aperture and its wooden frame on the 2nd floor and frame pockets on the 2nd and 3rd floor. For the given works, it was necessary to build scaffolding in the exterior up to 16 m of height and 10 m from the interior part to stabilise the tower.

After stabilisation of the west wall, the works continued on its south wall, where a tuff stone amorphous portal made of the original material was partially added on the left side in order to keep it as authentic as possible. Firstly, right scuntion of the gate was prepared and then the foundation for the wall protection on the left side, which was manufactured as a copy of the restored wall protection on the right side made of the limestone. After settlement of the masonry, an oak headboard was installed in the original foundation and the overhead of the gate was brick worked in the volume of 2 m3, which statically stabilised the entire wall, since it was already a danger to visitor of the Plavecký castle due to its unstable nature.

Since Plavecký castle is located in rather inaccessible terrain, the last 150 m required manual transport up to the castle, as well as 400 kg headboard and other material and tools.

West outer bailey palace garderobe

An object of the renaissance garderobe was statically unstable due to damaged scuntions and missing crown of arch, due to which a collapse of the wall over the garderobe was expected, also due to cracks in the masonry. Static reinforcement involved in completion of scuntions, renovation of the window sill and insertion of the wooden console of the garderobe. Subsequently, missing crown of arch was renewed and missing masonry was supplemented over the crown of arch.

The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2014 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.

2013 was a ground-breaking year for Plavecký Castle, particularly because after more than 300 years, the caste objects have been restored and statically reinforced and the brickwork has started to increase rather than decrease. In the past years, static and architectonic-historic research of the selected objects has been performed.

Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture of the SR via the grant program “Restore your House”, a successful securing activities for the entry gate objects and renaissance gate to south ravelin could start this year. Thanks to new information after discovery of the masonry of the original caverns marked 2a and 2b in a cannon bastion, it was found out that the original caverns, which should have been walled in were destructed cannon crenelle, for which the terrain needed to be archeologically dropped to their original level before their renovation, research discovered crenelle structures and plan their reconstruction. That is why the expert sponsor of the project consulted KPU Bratislava and after their approval it was decided to change the project and stop the restoration works marked 2a and 2b and the works should prioritize statically damaged object of the renaissance gate, which might collapse at the part of the crown of arch of the gate and therefore endanger the visitors of the castle.

Entry gate

Gate Tower is a three-floor renaissance object belonging among the most preserved parts of the castle. Its most conserved parts are east, west and south external wall. From the point of view of its total stability or risk of damage, the most unstable was the south (entry) external wall of the tower, which is planned for a restoration in 2nd stage in 2014. In 2013, the cavern was maintained in the volume of 1,5 m3 in the wall foundation, which stabilised the entire east wall of the tower and prevented its possible destruction.

Renaissance gate of the south ravelin

The object of renaissance gate was statically damaged by the absence of scuntions and onset of gate crown of arch, which might collapse. Static reinforcement involved masonry works on scuntions and renovation of construction apertures of the gate, such as the bed of door latches and hinges of the door wings. After that, missing parts of the crown of arch were renewed by using the original material – tuff stone in order to keep the renovation authentic.

The entire works at the given objects were done by quality manual work, while using original materials (stone collected from the surface of the castle) and technologies (preparation of middle age hot lime mortar with usage of pozzolan additives – Metakaolin). The works took place at the end of summer, whereas this time period gave us enough time for the carbonisation of mortar before freezing weather.

The post Plavecký castle – Reconstruction 2013 appeared first on Plavecký Hrad.