TheruinsofthecastleinKołointhelightofthelatestarchitecturalandarchaeologicalresearch,andtheirconservationissues 57
PhaseV–conservationworks
in the 21
st
century
Few fragments of the walls have been repainted rel-
atively recently. The materials used as well as the level
of execution should be described as disastrous, hence all
fragments assigned to this period were qualied for re-
placement. This will mainly concern redevelopment of the
western curtain from the side of the courtyard.
An undated secondary element – these will mainly in-
clude stone foundations, which were probably re-layered
or heavily jointed.
Conservation issues
Conservation issues related to the ruins of Koło cas-
tle boil down to the three basic issues: securing the walls
which may be destroyed, conservation and preservation of
the existing historical substance, and making the facility
accessible. The guiding principle adopted in the conserva-
tion applications was to preserve, protect and expose not
only the original historic substance which built the walls,
but also the later historical layers. They indicate dierent
approach to repairing and supplementing defects in the
facing layer, aimed at saving the castle walls, which had
been deteriorating for several centuries. Despite the as-
sumption of preservative conservation, it was allowed to
restore some fragments of the wall in places where it was
necessary for structural reasons or to protect the structure
from further destruction.
The ruins of Koło castle are located on the left bank of
the Warta river, about 20 m from the riverbed. Geotechni-
cal studies [10] have shown that in the immediate vicinity
of the structure, the near-surface aquifer consists of wa-
ters whose extreme amplitude of water table uctuations
can be up to about 2.0 m. The change in the water level
causes undermining of the facility located on a hill (lev-
el of the
inner courtyard approx. 6 m above the water ta-
ble), which results in impoverishment and loosening of the
ground, particularly on the eastern side, where the level of
the free water table was found at a depth of approximately
0.65 m
below the natural surface of the land. One of the
basic recommendations is to stilt the ground in order to
protect the entire ruin from undermining the foundations
and destroying the structure. The brick exterior walls have
extensive damage and cracks. First of all, the continuity
of the northern curtain wall was interrupted (the wall only
below the ground level), which was divided into two parts
in the overground zone. It resulted in the lack of rigidity
of the eastern part, despite its considerable thickness. The
wall was in poor technical condition, which did not make
it possible to transfer loads from wind forces. The remain-
ing part of the preserved walls showed various degrees of
damage [5]. The construction design also included con-
servation works in accordance with the program of con-
servation works [11] considering cleaning, repairing and
preserving the historic substance.
In order to protect the eastern fragment of the northern
wall, it was decided to design a reinforced concrete core
hidden inside the partially reconstructed, central section
of the northern wall (Fig. 11). The location of the new
element resulted directly from archaeological and archi-
tectural research. The new L-shaped barrier was placed on
top of the existing foundations of the northern curtain wall
and eastern wall of the residential tower. The face wall was
made of hand-made brick. As the form of possible window
and door openings was not known, it was not decided to
completely connect both parts of the northern wall. Since
it is not known what historical height the wall was, a low-
er addition was designed in the form of steps. The tooth-
ing was retained. The adopted solutions enable us to make
it clear that the wall existed in this place (which is consis-
tent with the research). Yet, they do not create an imag-
inary, unsupported by evidence form of the building.
The problem that is still waiting to be solved is the
method of making the ruins of the castle available to visi-
tors. The monument is one of the tourist attractions of the
region and it is often visited. Due to its picturesque loca-
tion on the banks of the Warta River, it is also a place of
rest and relax for the local community. After the conser-
vation and restoration works have been carried out, the
building should be safely open to the public. At the de-
sign stage, a concept was developed to make the elements
of the building accessible by introducing, among other
things, stairs leading to the top oor of the tower (approx.
11 m above the level of the inner courtyard), from which
one can see both the preserved the layout of the perimeter
walls of the building as well as the surrounding area with
the panorama of the town. However, a much greater chal-
lenge is the possible access to the crown of the western wall
and the introduction of a passage along the wall within it.
Conclusions
The archaeological research carried out in recent years,
and then the architectural research on the ruins of the cas-
tle, enabled us to trace its construction history in quite
a detailed way. After the residential tower appeared on
the north side, the corner tower was erected and the cur-
tains were added in several stages. It is also possible to
reconstruct the original height of these walls. On the basis
of the research conclusions, the fragment on the western
side was secured. In the future, archaeological and archi-
tectural research should be continued, especially when
the level of the courtyard is lowered. The nal concept
of making the castle ruins accessible and legible also re-
mains a challenge.
Translatedby
KarolinaPszczółkowska
