Považský hrad - zrúcanina hradu pri Považskej Bystrici / Obnova Považského hradu

Archaeological survey at the Povazsky Castle

The archaeological survey has been carried out on the object: 1 The Palace – the castle object (a chapel), load-bearing walls and a castle wall. Several decades of square meters of backfill have been inspected. 1 The Palace – the castle object (a chapel) – The interior of the castle chapel was dug out within the survey. The probes were used under the requirements specified by the Regional Monument Office Trencin to detect the original vertical alignment of the terrain. The load-bearing walls and the castle wall were dug down to the rock in the northern part of the northern wall, and they were cleaned. The probe archaeological survey has been conducted in accordance with the decision delivered by the Regional Monument Office Trencin. Archaeological survey objectives were fully in line with the intent of conserving Povazsky Castle. The archaeological survey was conducted in the necessary scope to achieve the goals of the current project.

The archaeological survey included:

manual excavation works, terrain drawing of the findings and archaeological objects, continuous terrain photo documentation, depositing, transferring, washing and temporarily depositing of archaeological artefacts. Also, other activities were conducted as a part of the survey, namely the restoring treatment of architectonic elements, a geodetic survey of the terrain, placing of probes, sectors, uncovering of architectonic structures and the projection thereof into the castle survey. The archaeological survey consisted in processing the survey results, assessing the survey and research documentation in line with the Decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic no. 253/2010 Coll. Within the survey, metal and ceramic findings were treated and reconstructed, osteological material and the ceramics were analysed, detritus was transferred to the dump, the probes were backfilled, and the ground surface was compacted and formed, the dendrochronological analysis was conducted.

Photographs of the archaeological artefacts and archaeological works were taken.

Remediation

The remediation of the rock cliff was one of the two construction interventions which the project was aimed at. The greenery was removed from the cliff as a part of preparation works which were conducted by mountain climbers. The photos were taken by them. Remediation concerned inaccessible and dangerous places. The rock cliff of the castle was in a very bad condition. The remediation and placement of 156 anchors ensure that the part of the palace where a chapel probably used to be will be preserved. The rock cliff became eroded, and rocks were falling down when it was being cleaned. Therefore, a temporary fence was built to catch the falling rocks.

Construction works

The restoration project represents a set of construction and technical measures and interventions. It focuses at conserving and remediating the broken and unstable construction elements of the castle in the necessary scope, conduction necessary reconstruction and restoring works in line with the architectonic and historical survey and the needs arising from the complex restoration of the castle.

The purpose of the project:

The project deals with the restoration of the castle within the specified scope:

- to prevent further erosion, to stabilize the monument and to ensure permanent protection of the monument

- to create conditions for restoring uncovered, inaccessible parts of the castle nucleus

- to make a part of the castle available to visitors under the limited regime

The goals of the project:

Restoration of above-ground castle structures:

o static protection of broken and unstable structures

o conservation and presentation of significant preserved elements and details

o reconstruction of original objects, parts and elements (copy/new form)

Construction of new and specialized premises:

o presentation premises – to archive and present valuable elements (columbarium)

o organisational premises – to safe-guard and make the premises available to visitors and

o supporting premises – for the needs of reconstruction and maintenance

Partial reconstruction of fill debris was carried out:

o to make the restoration of above-ground structures and draining possible

o to present the castle nucleus and making it available

o to make subsequent survey and restoration stages possible.

Regulated access of visitors was ensured by:

o closing the castle nucleus (walls and openings)

o building up temporary pavements and installing safety elements

o implementing the information system.

Project solving procedure

An architectonic and historical survey is a main starting-point of the project documentation. The castle is divided into individual objects which are described in detail in the project. Construction and technical measures and restoration principles are defined for each object based on the survey. Then, each measure is represented by a set of necessary interventions which are specified and recorded in the graphic and text part of the documentation.