LA CONSERVAZIONE DEL CALVARIO DI GÖDÖLLŐ

QUESTIONI DI SOSTENIBILITÁ IN UN PERCORSO STORICO DI UN MONUMENTO ALL’APERTO

Péter Klaniczay

Ufficio Governativo della Contea di Pest, Reparto del Patrimonio Culturale, Budapest, klaniczayp@freemail.hu

Abstract

The Gödöllő Calvary, built at the end of the 18th century, is one of the most nicely shaped monuments of this type. One can have access to the flat roof of the quadrangular construction through a two-directional stairway starting from the middle of the building. Its parapets adorned by plate-tracery and its expressive statues make this building an outstanding achievement of the age. During the past 200 years the state of the Calvary could be characterized rather by a general neglect, and the continuous deterioration has triggered seemingly unstoppable processes. In 1827 the crucifix had to be replaced, because the former one got dislocated by a storm. The state of the whole building became critical by the beginning of the 20th century. Its first thorough renovation occurred in 1931. Then some of the damaged walls have been restored, and the adorned parapet’s destroyed parts have been replaced. Subsequently, again, several decades of neglect came. The damages suffered during World War II, which remained unrepaired, caused a real distress by the 1960s. This is when a new thorough renovation was arranged, including the restoration of the precious statues. Because of a recurrent lack of maintenance, in the 1980s, a renewed restoration was proposed, which happened finally only in 1988-1991. There were additional restoring activities in 1997-1998. During the last, and perhaps the largest, restoration works in 2011 the whole architectural structure got strengthened, and by restoring the colored adorning motifs of the parapet and of those statues which were assuredly from the Baroque period, the one-time atmosphere of the Calvary got successfully recreated. One can see that the preservation of the original form of this building (with no system of defence) can only be successful in the conditions of a continuous maintenance. Only this could assure that future interventions should not result in sizeable continuing technological interventions, including the replacement of several original parts.

Key-words: sustainability, maintenance, Calvary, humidity, bath stone