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Humprecht Castle is being revitalised from May 2021. This year, most of the work will focus on the castle tower (5th floor) and the 4th and 3rd floors. In the castle tower, the most challenging part of the reconstruction was planned - the replacement of outdated beams in the ceiling of the acoustic feast hall. From 14 to 17 August, the castle was closed so that the longest beams could be moved to the foot of the castle and pulled up to the space under the crescent.
As it was not possible to anchor the scaffolding above the 5th floor, it was confirmed that the torsional load on the scaffolding (the leverage caused by the length of the beams) was too high and therefore there was a risk of deformation and collapse of the scaffolding. Further work was therefore stopped and it was decided to transport the beams by helicopter.
The Slovak aeronautical company TECH-MONT, which had previously been involved in the construction of the cable car to Sněžka, was hired for this work. On Friday 13 August 2021, the helicopter pilots arrived at the castle to inspect the construction and plan the entire operation. Due to the complexity of the whole operation and the fact that the helicopter was not allowed to fly in bad weather and wind, we did not know until the last minute when the whole event would take place. It was not until Tuesday, August 17, 2021 that the final decision was made that the entire event would take place on Thursday, August 19, 2021.
The helipad below Humprecht was chosen as the launching area for the helicopter and on Wednesday 18 August 2021 the traverses from the castle were transported there.
The helicopter flight itself was scheduled for Thursday, August 19, 2021 from 6:00 a.m. to approximately 12:00 p.m. However, the helicopter's transfer was delayed and after the announced delay, TECH-MONT's Mi-8T arrived at 18:30 hours.
On the first day (by 7:30pm) 5 of the 16 girders were moved and on Friday, August 20, 2021 from 8:30am to 10:30am the rest of the material was moved to the castle tower and the old girders were removed. There were ten workers waiting in the tower, who had to pull the half-ton traverse from the helicopter support ropes inside and place it in a prepared spot in the floor in a short period of two to three minutes. The whole operation was quick.
One of the most logistically complex phases of the reconstruction was undoubtedly successfully completed and we believe that the next phases of the renovation will be similarly successful.
Many more photos and videos can be found on our social networks. We will also be happy if you share with us photos and videos from this unique aviation event. Under the hastag #humprechtsvrtuli.
Facebook: zamekhumprecht
Instagram: zamek_humprecht
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