Zprávy památkové péče 2018, 78(5):500-503 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2018.5.10

The importance of photodocumentation in the case of the material technological survey of mortar and plaster from Nový Hrádek u Lukova

Vladislava Hůlková

NPÚ, GnŘ

The castle of Nový Hrádek u Lukova was founded in the second half of the 14th century by the Moravian Margrave Jan Jindřich as a hunting castle on a rocky promontory above the Thaya (Dyje) River, on the very border of Moravia and Austria. In the 15th century, it was acquired by the Lords of Eitzinger, who changed its appearance the most after the margrave and turned the hunting lodge into a noble residence. The castle's short period of full use ended during the Thirty Years' War, when the castle and the entire estate associated with it was tied to the estate of Vranov nad Dyjí and was occupied and destroyed by Swedish troops. Today, the unique combination of medieval castle architecture with the nearly untouched nature of the Podyjí National Park, together with the only partial use of the castle by its historical Vranov owners and the public hiking community, is also a result of the area's exclusion and closure as a guarded border zone in the 1950's.
This intactness also provides a good basis for broad research in the field of heritage care, including material technology research. This particular survey focused on the plaster and mortar of the Lower Castle, the structure dating back to the earliest period of foundation by the margrave. Previous research, mainly construction-historical in nature, has well documented and distinguished the two main building phases of the margrave and Eitzingers. Both of these phases were also manifested in the composition and character of the mortars studied, the difference being in the lime/sand ratio and the nature of the sand used (grain size and shape, amount of individual fractions). This clear distinction also brought new insight into the previously unsettled question of the existence, or lack thereof, of the palace during the margrave era. The current palace is dated back to the time of the Lords of Eitzinger, but not only according to dendrochronological dating; the existence of an older palace is assumed but has not yet been confirmed by any research. An analysis of the mortar sample from openings left by the construction of scaffolding for this palace, however, has revealed that the mortar is doubtlessly from the margrave period. The older palace, or rather its parts, could have been incorporated into the mass of the Eitzinger palace. However, this assumption must be verified by sampling and analyzing other samples. An example of this sample from a scaffolding opening also demonstrated the importance of photodocumentation for natural science and material-technical analyses. The technological laboratory carries out thorough photographic documentation for each sampling and on-site survey and requires the same for the samples sent to it; especially for cases when the lab worker was not on site, photographs provide an irreplaceable source of information both about the detail and the overall situation at the site where the sample was taken and thus removed irretrievably from the site. This information obtained from the photographic documentation plays a crucial role in interpreting the results of the material technology survey. Photographs also allow the survey results to be reviewed, supplemented, or expanded by precisely locating and capturing the sampling situation, as is the case with photodocumentation for restoration, archaeological, and construction-historical surveys.

Keywords: Nový Hrádek u Lukova, material technology survey, mortars, plasters, photographic documentation

Published: December 1, 2018  Show citation