Barn reconstruction

Leader: István Fülöp (instructor)

The National Historical Memorial Park at Ópusztaszer (ÓNTE) is one of the main sites and preservers of Hungarian ancient history, national identity and folk traditions. The open-air museum built in the park evokes the atmosphere of old rural life, and presents the typical peasants’ households and public buildings of the South-Alföld region. István Murka, the chief architect of ÓNTE got in touch with us and suggested that we organize this year’s architects’ camp here. Our task was to rebuild the so-called góré (a wooden barn used for grain storage) on the yard of the open air museum’s grocery. The original building’s frame superannuated, its cover festered, its roof tilted. Before the camp started we surveyed the whole building, we created timber-extracts, prepared the budget and ordered the wood. The camp started by breaking down the cover and the frame. The ordered materials arrived, and we cut all the girders, columns, purlins and rafters, from which we built the new frame. The next step was to set the floor boards, do the casting and place the gable. We nailed the roof battens and put back the dismantled and cleaned clay-shingles. We adjusted the door and hung it to its proper place. It was completed.

István Fülöp