Likewise it was carried out in the previous year on the 29th May 2015 within the frame of the talent management grant of the Student’s Scientific Association Board on the Faculty of Architecture of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics a one day study tour was conducted to the training and research centre of the BDA – Bundesdenkmalamt Österreich (Austrian Federal Monuments Office) that is housed in the Mauerbach Charterhouse, a historic site near to Vienna.
Likewise it was carried out in the previous year on the 29th May 2015 within the frame of the talent management grant of the Student’s Scientific Association Board on the Faculty of Architecture of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics a one day study tour was conducted to the training and research centre of the BDA – Bundesdenkmalamt Österreich (Austrian Federal Monuments Office) that is housed in the Mauerbach Charterhouse, a historic site near to Vienna.
Our group of students and faculty lecturers was greeted by Astrid Huber the site manager of the premise. The morning program started by the short lecture of Dr. Farkas Pinter on the working territories and institutional structure of the BDA, and the most relevant theoretical information on historic mortars and materials of historic plasters. After Dr. Pintér’s lecture dr. Karl Stingl introduced the most relevant historic pigments regarding to the origins, the characteristics, the locations of deposits, and the ways of exploitation. At the end of the morning session the group walked along the cloister of the monastery where numerous sample surfaces are to be seen as mementos of the different research and training programs. Finally in the church of the charterhouse the history of the site was presented.
After a short lunch break dr. Karl Stingl performed a presentation on the practical knowledge of the different kind of historic mortars. Unlike our program in the previous year this time the methods of restoring plastered surfaces were emphasised more with special regards to the ones with air lime, hydraulic lime, and Roman cement binders. In the afternoon we made a walkthrough with professional explanations on the internal and external spots of the past trainings on decorated plaster surfaces. In one of the former cell of the monastery various pargeting techniques and plastered decorations (mouldings, cornices etc.) could be studied. Underneath the cell in the cellar a reconstruction of a lime-mortar based screed could be seen. In the external yard of the charterhouse for research proposes lime-kiln for lime-burning, and shaft kiln for Roman cement production were erected temporarily. On the external wall surfaces many plastered and rendered sample surface of various age were presented which provide opportunity to study the behaviour and the durability of the plasters in the long run too. During the presentation the traditional preparation methods of lime mortars were described which depending on the way and place of use based on altering technological methods. Finally the way of fabrication of Roman cement casts were presented as well.
The charterhouse disposes a number of various workshops and collections of historic materials and structures for serving the programs of the BDA in the premise such as the smithy, the workshop of the locksmith and sheet metal worker, the stonemason’s workshop, the collection of historic doors and windows, the 19th century collection of construction stones, the archaeological exhibition in the cellar, or the actual temporary exhibition of historic tiles and pavements any of which could be selected individually on the bases of the personal interests at the end of the day.
István Vidovszky
The sponsors of the programme:
