Szadvar castle project and youth camp, Hungary

It is usually an eventless period of the year, but recently we have a lot going on.

The warning signs we had planted around the ruins are important due to the growing numbers of hikers and tourists coming to Szadvar. Unfortunately, these signs wear down quickly. So far we could not find a more permanent weather-proof solution, so we have to replace them every other year. This can be done at this time, when other activities can’t. Of course, the castle is hiding in the fog and covered by snow. It has a completely different atmosphere this time. Please see the attached photos (by Tamas Grecmajer, Janos Dobos).

Our next event, the Save the Castle days (March 16-17^th) is under preparation now. The plan is to work on the spots of the castle which will most probably be examined during the archeology week in the summer (July 30th – August 4th). We will clean the area of the weeds and bushes and collect the loose stones from the areas and pile them.

It gets harder and harder to find volunteers to come to far reaches of the country and work hard to save the ruins of Szadvar. But we have some positive examples, e.g. there are students coming regularly from a high school at the city of Gyor - which is very far from the castle. So now we are contacting other high schools in the country, mostly from the region of Szadvar and try to make the teachers and the young people aware that Szadvar is there and we can still save it for the future, for them.

The European Union declared 2018 the ‘European Year of Cultural Heritage’. We have submitted our 11th archeology week in the summer as a part of the events. You can find that and other information on this page: https://koee2018.kormany.hu/programmes

We are also updating our publications to re-issue them. It is also essential that we can show the achievements and the results of the hard work and the help we received from our volunteers.

And from You.

Thank you again for your help!

Links:

• Friends of Szadvar home page

  Well, Yes! Szadvar needs to be saved every year. Nature has its ways to reclaim the land, the mountains and the castle walls by the army of plants and other living organisms. The growing trees and bushes, and even the weeds are using various weapons to ruin the walls and conquer the area of Szadvar again and again. Take it back from the men who built it then abandoned it for hundreds of years.

  However, the army of women and men are back! But since there is still no regular gardener in the castle, we have to come back and cut those growing weeds and bushes every year from the walls and castle baileys. Using the funds we received, we purchased our own weapons – pruning shears, clippers, saws and axes. Then came the soldiers, the enthusiastic people who offer their time and effort to contribute. 40 people decided to spare their time to come to Szadvar in October from even the far reaches of the country to help. 20 out of this group were high school students, most of them joined us for the first time at Szadvar. Thanks to them!

  And obviously, we are also grateful to anyone who could help to raise the funds to enable this, saving the castle!

  After the exhausting adventure of climbing up to the castle and doing the hard work of weeding around the castle we invited the volunteers to see the exhibition of Szadvar's artifacts down in the village (Szögliget). They were happily waving their caps which they received as a present from Friends of Szadvar (see photos).

  Let me mention another important event for Szadvar: the annual gathering of Castrum Bene association at Visegrad. Our lead archeologist, Viktor Gal had shown a presentation about the results and outcome of the 10^th archeological week we had in August. Our members proudly participated on this event. We are glad that the results of our work is presented to the public and to the professional architectures and archeologists.

  Thank you again for your help in all of this!

Links:

• Friends of Szadvar home