Tag: work

Working season 2016 update

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The work season on Katarínka is already slowly going to its end. The so-called búračka is taking place, i.e. the camp is taken apart and stored until the next year, when it will be put together again. Currently (in the week between 29th August and 4th September), there is approximately 50 to 60 young volunteers present…

Considering work, it is mainly about realising tasks that were mentioned in advance in the previous news that covered the work plan for year 2016.

It was necessary to restore the capitals of the pillars (picture on the left) while moving the scaffolding multiple times in the nave of the church, as there are 8 pillars in it.


The work on the reconstruction of the segmental arch, which was mainly done in the middle of August this year, is being finished (picture on the left). In the picture on the right, there are two young masons, who underpin one of the walls of the monastery to avoid a possible fall of the wall that could happen otherwise.

 

In the chancel (picture on the left), south-eastern wall was renewed by filling in missing stones and conserving its stable parts.

In the south-western part, the wall was recreated only from bricks, without any wet binder (picture on the right). The reason for not using groat on this wall is that we can not precisely estimate in which way the wall from the chancel continued. This will have to be discovered by the historical and archeological exploration in the future.

 

The last carpenter and conservation works in the tower are being finished. More detailed information concerning the opening of the view tower of the church will be published in September or October.

Regular virgilous masses are served throughout the summer at Katarínka, as well as voluntary morning and evening prayers of volunteers, as it was customary for the monks, who lived in this monastery in 17th and 18th century.

Katarínka would not be itself if there were not the people of the “same blood group”, space for acceptance, understanding, self-knowing, getting to know others, adventures, delicious food, relaxation in the nature etc.

 

Summer working season 2013 is over

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The summer season at Katarínka has been successfully completed. This, however, does not mean that Katarínka cannot be visited anymore. Quite the contrary: right now, when the autumn is so beautiful and multicoloured, the place is really worth visiting.

We would like to share with you a summary of how we got on and what we have managed so far. Here is some brief information on our most important summer (especially working) activities.

Conservation works on the tower

The masonry and grouting took place on the crown of the tower – on its roof at the height of 363 metres above sea level, 30 metres above the ground. On the highest 6th floor, it was necessary to ensure the static equilibrium and fix the wall that will be used as a railing of the tower.

The masonry was also done on the individual storeys inside the tower. All storeys are already completed and masoned (there are 5 storeys plus the roof). The masonry was done on the spots where the bearing beams of the storeys were embedded – in stripes of 50 cm above and 50 cm below the floor – in order to complete the floors and to make a ladder.

In the next few years, our task will be to do the grouting on the mezzanine level.

Carpentry

We managed to craft the stairs (some are fitted between the 4th and 5th floor, others are prepared). The floors were done too – the ones on the fourth and fifth floors are already installed thanks to the intensive planing of wooden boards during our two-week summer camps.

Archaeological research

The presbytery and the crypt were discovered. “We have it! Finally, in the crypt…” Elorien and our archaeologist Ivana Kvetánová were both very pleased. The ceiling of the crypt was crushed, and the whole crypt was buried under the debris. We found the remains of the marble altar, which is likely to have been situated above the crypt . Occasionally, we came across some bones and splinters. The crypt is divided into two storeys with two internal partition walls. Six grave sites were probably situated there. Based on the historical sources, we can assume that the crypt was robbed several times in the past, or that the descendants transferred their ancestors’ remains elsewhere.

Conservation of the monastery

After a couple of years, we came back to work on the monastery. It was the drilling and anchoring of the statically vulnerable parts – the internal partition walls. We also did the complete re-masoning of the crowns of the walls and the grouting of the monastery, which is to be continued next year.

The highlight of this season was the disassembling and the re-vaulting of the destroyed arches, the repair of the brick shutters and the grassing of the crowns of all the repaired walls.

See also photos – The monastery before and after. Especially the completely disintegrated vault, whose possible fall during the winter 2012/2013 was the subject of a bet. It did not fall at last 😉

Of course, Katarinka is not just about work. It’s about all of its 4 pillars, that is the people, community, spirituality as well as the place itself, which got prettier again last year.