The site

Tematín Castle is situated on a side ridge of the Považský Inovec mountain range at an altitude of 605 metres above the sea level. It was part of a chain of border castles; therefore, it was built far from any settlements and is now considered one of the least accessible castles in Slovakia.

As to its early history, archaeological research indicates that the first brick buildings of the castle were built around the year 1250, under the spell of the Tartar invasion and served as both guard and refuge in case of threat. In 1311 a large defensive tower was built. The first documentary evidence of the castle was found in the written instruments of the year 1347 when King Louis I donated it to Vavrinec Tót of Raholec, the administrator of the countries of Nitra, Wallachia, and Sopron. It witnessed several battles due to which it was partly damaged, but never conquered. It began losing its renown of unconquerable fortress towards the end of the 18th century, since the nobility were at that time building more luxurious and more comfortable mansions in the lowlands. The individual parts of the castle changed owners over time, such as by the House of Berčéni mainly known for Mikuláš. After the suppression of their uprising and prosecution, the castle was damaged by the imperial troops in the year 1710. The last written document dates back to 1721 and it says that the castle was devoid of any property and that it was no longer manned or guarded.

As of the year 2007, the castle has remained in the care of the Tematín Castle Association. With the help of volunteers and staff, its members explore and preserve the castle. During these years, they have managed to stabilise several objects of the castle before they were completely lost. The main objective of the association is to maintain the atmosphere of the castle as part of the beautiful countryside without allowing any massive interferences or new constructions and to disseminate knowledge about traditional masonry. Thus, in performing the necessary conservation works, the organisation exclusively applies historic recipes and procedures of mortar composition and uses traditional masonry techniques.

The training course

The European Heritage Training Course is a continuation of the collaboration initiated in 2019, and continued in 2020, focusing on traditional technologies of stone and brick masonry.

The training course will provide an opportunity to contribute to the ongoing efforts to conserve a historic castle using traditional techniques. The participation to the training course is open for both skilled young craftsmen as well as for interested amateurs without formal education, but with preferably some practical experience in handicraft.

The conservation works will be carried out directly at the historic walls and vaults of the medieval buildings which have been rebuilt and changed in Renaissance style, where the stone – and at vaults the brick – are the dominant building materials.

Under the supervision of skilled craftsmen and heritage conservation experts the participants will be involved in the whole process, from lime preparation and lime burning, mortar mixing and stone selection up to stone laying technology in stonework and historic masonry.

The training course will include theoretical discussions focused on the norms and other details concerning the governance of cultural heritage sites in Slovakia, the particular steps to prepare, plan and carry out heritage conservation interventions (documentation, research, and final definition of works) as well as on various aspects of traditional craftsmanship. The theoretical courses will also involve discussing the particular historical evolution phases that Tematín Castle has undergone through the centuries as well as the proper conservation approach on examples of the masonry parts which have fallen out of the castle’s walls.

During the weekend, the group will partake in an excursion to neighbouring fortresses and castles, where they will get familiarised with different conservation approaches and see various conservation and reconstruction techniques.

The training course was organised by Tematín Castle Association in cooperation with European Heritage Volunteers.