
Restoration of cultural heritage

Restoration of cultural heritage
Restoration
of cultural
heritage

Construction is an activity that has left a lasting legacy to humanity that we have the opportunity to admire again and again.
Inspired by this very fact, ING-GRAD was founded as a construction company whose activities include specialized works comprised of: restoration and reconstruction of monumental heritage of exceptional historical and artistic significance.
In more than 35 years of work on the restoration and reconstruction of the monumental heritage, we have been using all the advantages of modern construction methods, but also applying unique knowledge based on the techniques, skills and recipes of old crafts.
Most buildings of cultural or architectural heritage are brick buildings built of stone or brick wall elements connected with mortar, usually found in poor condition due to their age and inadequate maintenance. Therefore, before the renovation and final arrangement, it is necessary to carry out constructive restoration. The complexity of the historical buildings restoration requires the incompatibility of traditional and new materials and respect for their original existence, which is why the use of reinforced concrete is not recommended. The most favourable technique for repairing and strengthening such constructions has proved to be injection, i.e., stabilizing and closing cracks in damaged walls by injecting special injection compounds, applying reinforced cement or epoxy coatings on one or both sides of the wall, and pre-tensioning the walls.
Roofs of monumental heritage buildings are usually wooden roofs with different types of covering, depending on the tradition of the climate in which the building is located. The reconstruction of such wooden roofs implies the replacement of individual elements or the complete structure with new wood, most often made of Slavonian oak or conifer, and the replacement of the covers.
The renovation and reconstruction of the building includes the renovation of the external facade, the execution of profiles and stone plastic, the production of wooden joinery and everything that includes the restoration of the historical appearance and original condition. It is done according to conservation guidelines, which is why the restoration and reconstruction of the building is longer and requires specific materials, works and methods of execution.
Investor
Croatian Restoration Institute
Category
Castels, Palaces and Fortresses
Odescalchi Castle, located in the western part of the fortified town of Ilok, is actually the partitioned medieval palace of Nikola Ilok, Croatian ban and king of Bosnia. It was built in the first half of the 15th century and is the most important residential-representative building in medieval Slavonia and Srijem. In the first half of the 16th century, Ilok was conquered by the Turks, and after the expulsion of the Turks, the Austrian Emperor Leopold I donated the castle to Livio Odescalchi in 1697, and the castle remained a summer residence until 1945.
The Palace of Nikola Iločki was built in the transitional Gothic-Renaissance style as a two-story fortified city citadel of a square monastic floor plan with an inner courtyard, auxiliary rooms, a representative knight's hall with vaults, an emporium and King Nikola's living quarters. During the Turkish rule, the palace was destroyed and neglected, at the end of the 17th century, the northern wing and all the rooms inside the fort were demolished. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Odescalchi princes began to rebuild the castle: the square floor plan was changed, the castle was baroqueized, and an arcaded portico built with brick, which is typical of Roman architectural culture, was added to the courtyard facade of the south wing on all three floors.
Today, the castle is a two-story, three-wing building with a U-shaped floor plan, open to the Danube, whose walls, foundations and vaults are built of bricks, while the ceilings and roof are of wooden construction, and the covering is made of pepper-tiles.
Extensive conservation-restoration, geomechanical and structural research carried out at the Odescalchi castle was started in 2000 and preceded the renovation works. They include the static rehabilitation of the building, whose load-bearing structure has settled due to the action of water, the restoration of the entire roof covering and sheet metal, the restoration and reconstruction of the destroyed parts in accordance with the rules of the conservation and restoration profession, the rehabilitation of the facade and interior, and the decoration and adaptation of the interior itself.