Italian marble glass adorns the historical building of the Veszprém castle quarter

Visitors to the Veszprém Castle District will be greeted by spectacular changes: the facades and roofs of the 18 buildings involved in the project of the Archdiocese of Veszprém have been renewed. As previously reported, the second phase, which focuses on interior works, started in February this year. The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2025.

While in the first phase the entire castle had to be closed to the public (due to demolition works, construction works and the use of cranes), in the second phase the castle is only closed during the day, so it is open to tourists and visitors in the evenings and on weekends. The large basalt cobbled pavement has been re-laid with asphalt to protect the road from the impact of construction traffic.

A small wonder hiding among spectacular buildings, the Gizella Chapel

The palace complex on the eastern side of the castle quarter was intended to serve the official and private life of the archpastor. The central building is the Ersek Palace and its adjoining Saint Joseph's House (formerly the servants' house). The complex is closed to the north by the Grand Prepost House, and between the two is one of our most distinctive medieval monuments, the two-storey Gizella Chapel.

The consortium is currently working on a series of structurally, functionally and renovationally interlinked project elements - for the buildings of the palace complex. In this article, we report on these works with Dobosyné Hajnalka Dobosyné, project manager of LATEREX Építő Zrt..

The renovation of the facilities is running in parallel over time, the project manager told us.

Valuable frescoes are saved in the Archbishop's Palace

The former Episcopal, since 1993 Archbishop's building is one of the outstanding masterpieces of Hungarian Baroque architecture, built between 1765-1776 according to the plans of the Eszterházy architect Jakab Fellner. With its rich wall and ceiling paintings, ornate wood panelling, stucco decorations and marble surfaces, the building, which also has neoclassical features, presents a challenge to the reconstruction contractors.

The project manager, who was also voted Engineer of the Month in December 2022, said that the Baroque ceiling fresco in the main dining room had been damaged several times over the previous decades and needed to be fully restored. The Baroque side mural in the room, which is a room of outstanding value, was found to be in good condition during the painter's restoration research. The experts recorded this with orthophotographs and restoration documentation, and conserved the remaining mural painting in a designated area for repainting. The entire Baroque side wall was then excavated and restored.

The slab structure was strengthened with a unique solution

The Archbishop's Palace is also notable for the side and ceiling paintings in the Vestibule (entrance hall), the Blue Salon and the side and ceiling paintings in the Baroque Chapel, which are being preserved by restoration painters.

The wooden panelling of both of the Metse halls, the Koller library in its entirety, and the restoration of all the interior Baroque and Neoclassical windows and doors are a tribute to the work of restoration specialists. The cleaning and restoration of the wood panelling is carried out on site, requiring a high level of professionalism to carry out the restoration work with precision.

The earlier renovation of the roof structure allowed for the timber protection and structural analysis and reinforcement works of the damaged slab structure in the leak-proof building. The structural reinforcements also involved in-situ repairs to some of the supporting elements of the ceiling stucco and frescoes, the ramonades.

It is a real curiosity that a solution was found to replace the slab beams from the attic, which also provided the possibility to reinforce the heavily damaged structure below. This allowed the slab to be stabilised, thus protecting the high-value ceiling frescoes, stuccoes and murals of the foyer, the large dining room, the staircase and the salon.

St Joseph's House (formerly the staff house) is the service unit of the Archbishop's Palace, which includes a large kitchen and dining room. A garage, laundry and ironing facilities and associated changing blocks have been added. On the upper floor, single and double apartments have been created, suitable for short-term guest accommodation.

The floor of the legendary Gizella Chapel transformed into a representative space

The smallest of the buildings under renovation is the Gizella Chapel, the most exciting of the renovation projects, which is wedged between the Archbishop's Palace and the Great Prepost House in the south-east corner of Trinity Square. Previous research suggests that it was built in the 13th century by converting an older building. The former two-storey medieval chapel was converted into a roofed attic decades ago to protect it from leaking.

The current complete renovation will allow the upstairs chapel to once again become an integral part of the building, creating a representative space. A full painterly restoration of the 13th century walls has begun, so that the final design will also showcase the values revealed by the excavations.

"What challenges does the historic character of the building pose?" was answered by project manager Hajnalka Dobosyné.

Structural works associated with the new exterior should be built with full protection of the interior values. The new exterior also includes a unique glass lighting structure that could only be manufactured in Italy."

Italian marble glass makes the chapel special

As the Gizella Chapel is located between two other Baroque buildings, it was necessary to adapt the new cladding of the chapel to their geometry, and to adapt the unique glass structure and its drainage to match.

It is a real challenge to fit glass with a special shape and layering to walls that are hundreds of years old, and which are made with a technology that is unique in the world. Made of six millimetres of Carrara marble-cased insulated glass, the luminaire is a triangular triangle on the outside and a single large triangle on the chapel side. All four elements have the shape of a general acute triangle.

This custom-designed insulating glass was manufactured in a specialised factory in Brescia, Italy. The general acute-angled triangular glass, both the shape that is difficult to produce using insulated-tempered glass manufacturing techniques and the two-centimetre-thick Carrara marble bonded to the glass, requires exceptionally fine machining to six millimetres, which makes it truly unique.

The glass on the inside of the chapel is the largest glass surface: a triangle of 3.3 x 2.8 x 2.6 metres, enclosing an acute angle.

The bottles were delivered and secured by LATEREX Építő Zrt.. A contracted partner with native Italian language skills assisted us in the technical negotiations and on-site deliveries. Árpád Balázs, chief engineer, and the installation supervisor travelled to Brescia for the glass structure. The lorry also carried a vacuum glass panel lifting device, which was used to carry out a test lifting on site together with the Italian experts.

Crane to lift the mown glass structure into place

To achieve the final glass structure, the old glass and associated stormwater drainage and part of the façade cladding will have to be demolished. The installed glass will then be removed from the structure and replaced by a crane to lift in the custom marble-casement glass. This will be followed by the waterproofing of the glass structure, the restoration of the associated rainwater drainage and the restoration of the façade cladding.

As we have reported in previous articles, the historic investment of the Archdiocese of Veszprém is supported by the Hungarian State, with a full completion date of 2025. The project involves 18 buildings and their associated areas of around 35,000 square metres of built-up area and 10,000 square metres of open space. The works on the listed building project will be carried out by five companies, LATEREX Építő Zrt., VEMÉV-SZER Kft., Fejér-B.Á.L. Zrt., SWIETELSKY Magyarország Kft. and B & G Generál Kft.