Svijany brewery have bought decaying castle in Svijany village in 2013 to make it available for public again with huge support of EEA and Norwegian funding. Reconstruction of the castle began on spring 2015 and now the director of Icelandic partner – the Institute of Archaeology – archaeologist Adolf Fridriksson was personally invited by director of Svijany brewery Roman Havlik to have a look at the overall progress. During the visit he does not only inspect the main object of his interest – Svijany renovated castle, but also a brewery Svijany, an important archaeological areas in the region, depository in Jablonec nad Nisou and archaeologist Mgr. Peter Brestovanským exchanged a lot of valuable experience.
The director of the Icelandic Archaeological Institute Adolf Fridriksson is an experienced archaeologist. Throughout his career, he participated in archaeological excavations in their home country as well as on the international land – for instance Great Britain, Italy and Norway. “I believe that the visit of Mr. Fridriksson will be enriching for both sides. Throughout the whole one week we were together with him and the rest of the team involved in the restoration of the Svijany castle share thoughts, ideas and experiences. We gain a lot of inspiration during the meeting, which we would like to use for realization and correct understanding of the exhibition space throughout the castle area,” says Roman Havlik, director of the brewery Svijany and the project manager Marketa Tumova, adds:”The subject of discussion were eg. two projects implemented in Institute of Archaeology. Both were concerned with children and we would like to use the experience with them for the preparation of an archaeological workshop in the castle Svijany. Another project shared with us by Mr. Fridriksson was about archaeological exhibition at a hotel in downtown Reykjavik, where the Viking farm was discovered. It has been accurately restored and kept in a place of discovery. With the same idea we are working on the castle, where are excavations left in the place of discovery.”
Icelandic archaeologist´s guide to the archaeological treasures and overall region rich in historical findings were his Czech counterpart Mgr. Petr Brestovansky “It was my honor to welcome Mr. Fridriksson at Svijany castle and to share with him information about our current progress of reconstruction and current archaeological findings,” says Brestovansky. His foreign colleague could therefore see at the Svijany castle, inter alia, 3,000-year old bronze pin, a massive base wall on the land around the castle, medieval bread oven or newly exposed ceiling paintings in the chapel. Together they also visited the most important archaeological sites in the region – Cesky Dub, Frydlant and Hradek nad Nisou. The program included also a tour of the exhibits from the depository in Jablonec nad Nisou, which will be part of the permanent exhibition at the Svijany castle.
Reconstruction of the Svijany castle runs from the spring 2015 and will be completed in middle of 2016. On the restoration of cultural monuments cooperate Liberec region, municipality of village Svijany, North Bohemian Museum, along with the leading archaeologist Mgr. Peter Brestovanský, National Heritage Institute UPS in Sychrov, educational center Zivot hrou and benevolent corporation ARCHA 13. Petr Brestovanský is already working at the realization of the permanent exhibition depicting the unique archaeological findings from the Bronze Age from the nearby village of Svijany.