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 | Sep 11, 2017
The 10th Archeology Week

By Janos Dobos | Project Leader

The dedicated team

More than 30 exhausted but enthusiastic people climbed the Castle hill again on the last day of July, 2017. They were exhausted because it takes a 40-50 minutes ascent to get to the ruins of Szadvar. They were enthusiastic because it is a lot of fun to return here to dig and reveal the long-forgotten walls from under the ground. And to find treasures.

It may not be a treasure for many people to find a piece of iron which looks like a rusted old nail. But knowing that it was part of the castle and it is buried there for more than 300 years is an unbelievable, breathtaking thought. Not mentioning when you find a medieval coin, stove tile or a part of a glass. Probably a glass from which the guards were drinking wine hundreds of years ago!

Thanks to your help, and other funds we could utilize - including donations from our own members of course -, politics and changes of law did not take away the opportunity to organize this event. Thanks to your donations we could help the volunteers by paying halve of their cost of accommodation. It is an immense help for them considering that they come here in their vacation to work. They would have to pay for their travelling, food and accommodation fully without these funds which retains many people.

So after all, the extremely hot weather was the most unmerciful enemy of the Saviors of Szadvar. The temperature was over 35 C degrees (95 in Fahrenheit) during the whole week even on the top of the hill! But regardless the height, the temperature or the costs, we opened 4 trenches and found many nice artifacts. Although the main goal for the archeologists was to verify that the buried walls are located exactly as they were shown in the known layout drawings. Of course, they usually are not.

But now we know more about a kitchen, a bar (with a probably complete tile stove) and we have started to dig out the walls of the chapel as well where we found a window to the inner bailey. It is still a mystery though, what the house in the last trench could have been. Since we have found walls with different thickness but even after getting deep in the trench there was no window or door leading to this “room”. It will be a hard home work for the archeologists of the Museum to find out what it was.

After digging out the ruins we had to fill back the trenches with large stones which are going to support the old walls. If there will be enough funds to enforce these walls, we will have to come back and remove those stones again. Let’s hope we will have to do that!

Please see the attached pictures about the 10^th summer excavation week.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

The "smallest" help

In the trenches...

The treasures

Standing in the chapel

Peace of mind

Links:

Friends of Szadvar

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Jun 13, 2017
Dark Clouds over Szadvar?

By Janos Dobos | Project Leader

Friends of Szadvar at Dinnyes

It’s going to be the 10^th ‘Save the Castle Week’ event we are preparing for right now. We plan to dig the excavation trenches on the Castle hill from July 31^st to August 5^th. But there is a long way to get there…

Being an NGO (Non-governmental Organization), we are not active in politics. However, the legal circumstances also affect our activities and possibilities. We just hope that the recent legal changes in Hungary will not block the path we started to follow 10 years ago. The path to saving the castle of Szadvar.

However, we may have to save this summer archeology event itself as well. The Museum 'Herman Otto' helps us by providing archeology support for the excavation in the castle. But the recent law changes apply to our cooperation as well. The Museum cannot provide this support for free, not even with different conditions from any other excavations which are ordered by big building companies.

Nevertheless, we are enthusiastic and cheerful. The volunteers would come from far reaches of the country to search for the hidden treasures – or at least the hidden walls from under the dirt. We work hard raising funds and organizing everything to enable them to contribute.

In the meantime we also had meetings with our partners. We were invited to the annual Civil award 2017 ceremony in Budapest. We were not awarded this time but the judges highlighted that our program is strong and they really appreciated our material.

There was the ‘Vitezlo’ hiking competition in Szendro. This town is located 10 miles away from Szadvar. Our members were actively helping the organizers of the event by registering the hikers and bikers at the checkpoints at Szendro and Szögliget.

We also attended the opening of the Hall of fame of the Hungarian Castle Researchers at the Dinnyes Castle Park. We are proud of Jozsef Petroczky, member of Friends of Szadvar who passed away in 2016. His name was also put on the wall among the famous researchers of the Hungarian cultural heritage.

Please see the attached pictures about these events.

NOTE: Your help may be worth even more! Please send your donations on GG Rewards Bonus Day from 9:00 EDT to 23:59 EDT on Wednesday, July 12th! On this day, GlobalGiving will match funds at 50%!

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Civil 2017 awards ceremony

Szadvar T-shirts on the Vitezlo hiking competition

Szogliget checkpoint on the 'Vitezlo'

Pictures from 'Dinnyes Castle Park'

Our member on the Wall of fame

Links:

Friends of Szadvar Home

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Mar 29, 2017
Siege Day of Szadvar - 450th Anniversary

By Janos Dobos | Project Leader

Szadvar in Medieval Lighting

It was quite cold winter this year in Hungary. It also brought hard times 450 years ago to the people of Szadvar when the Austrian forces attacked it surprisingly during wintertime. But when we arrived this March to the village Szögliget under the castle, the well known beautiful landscape waited us in warm sunshine and tempted us to climb up to the hill again. The volunteers, or as we call them, the ‘Saviors of the Castle’ were cutting the bushes from the southwest walls and slopes with great enthusiasm.

But in the afternoon, when we arrived back to the Szalamandra house where the volunteers stayed, a new adventure has started for the Friends of Szadvar. Some of us went back to the village to gather the people for a procession with torches. The local folk singers’ group called ‘Páva Kör’ (Peacock Circle) has opened the series of events which we organized for the weekend of March 11-12 in the memory of the siege of Szadvar in 1567.

Some of us in the meantime went back up to the hill and lit 35 torches around the south walls of the Castle. After a few minutes, the folks marching on the streets of Szögliget saw something they may have never seen in their lives before. It was a touch of the Middle Ages. Szadvar was shining in the night. The people in the village probably saw something similar if they looked up to Szadvar - but only more than 300 years ago.

The night concluded with a medieval concert in the Szalamandra house. We were listening and dancing to traditional medieval music performed by a Hungarian band.

The next day, on March 12^th we held the first Szadvar Siege Day. In spite of the cold and windy weather many people (up to 300) have decided to come and see the traditional performers and joined the archers or just have a nice time below the walls of Szadvar and hear the sound of the cannons and muskets fired.

It was really a breathtaking experience though! One could imagine how frightening it must have been when the sound of much bigger cannons was echoing in these valleys. How brave the defenders under the siege must have been to face those cannons for 2 weeks!

It was also the day when the Szadvar Exhibition was opened in the village (Szögliget). A great collection of the findings we have been digging out during the excavations over the past 10 years is shown in three dedicated cabinets. The archeologist, Gal Viktor explained that the artifacts shown were selected to help us to see and understand some of the everyday activities in the Castle during the Middle Ages. It was nice to see the familiar objects we picked up from the dirt in the Castle after the restorers took care of them. It was a proud moment for all of us.

On Monday, March 13^th we have got a great help. 45 people arrived from Gyor - the other side of the country and joined us to help cleaning off the weeds and bushes from and under the walls of the castle. It was humbling to see how even the retired people took their secateurs and were busy cutting the branches.

Let us proudly show you how we used the funds to save and publicize Szadvar.

(Photos by Gabor Bubenko, Janos Dobos, Tamas Molnar, Gabor Nagy, Aron Pergel, Tamas Vigvari)

Thank you again for your help!

The Saviors of the Castle (1)

Szadvar lit by torches

Procession in the village

Szadvar Exhibition

Siege Day Performers

Saviors of the Castle (2)

Links:

Friends of Szadvar home page

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