CHARME Project, Hundisburg, Germany

My Internship this year would be in Hundisburg Germany, at Schloss Hundisburg. We would be working for the CHARME project, Charleston Restoration Art Meets Europe. Our task this year would be to help restore a portion of the castle garden wall that had become overgrown with Ivy. The Ivy roots would then promote the corrosion of the mortar joints. The project would consist of several tasks, first clearing out old ivy growth and roots, then replacing and re pointing mortar. On sections where the top portion of the retaining wall had completely collapsed we would rebuild the wall to level height with either reclaimed stone from other collapsed sections, or with new stone from local sources. Because of the historical value of the castle a careful eye was kept on making the restoration work blend with the undamaged portions of the wall.

Schloss Hundisberg, in Hundisburg Germany.

In this photo, taken in 2009, you can see the extensive ivy overgrowth that would have to be removed to restore the wall. Most Ivy was gone by the time our project started, with the exception of isolated portions from roots lodged high in the wall.

Moving the scaffold into position. The Ivy to the right came from a large root that would have to be removed.

My first task was to remove a large Ivy root that had taken over a section of the wall. After I chopped it out the space had to be thoroughly cleaned then new stones were put in its place, and re-pointed

For this portion of the project Roland would be on the scaffold re pointing portions of the wall after they were rebuilt.

Mason line guiding what level the stones should fit if possible. Due to the nature of the work there could be some slight variation if needed to fit a stone in lower courses, but the top course must be exact to fit the sandstone capstones that would later cap the wall.

Scrap stone was collected from collapsed portions of the wall, and other local stone to rebuild the wall.

Testing the fit before laying the top course.