WHEN THE MAIN ENTRANCE, A PROPER ONE!
Restoration of the portico of the Motešický manor house in Ladce.

On the pages of Ladecký zvesty we regularly inform you about all the important activities that we carry out at the Motešický manor house in Ladce. In addition to the reconstruction works on the west wing of the manor and expert lectures, however, we cannot (nor do we want to) forget about the partial restoration of significant architectural elements, which are usually the result of specialized activities aimed at the protection and presentation of the monumental values of the manor, which is a national cultural monument.

One of them is the restoration of the historic portico, situated on the northern side of the manor house, which is one of the most valuable and monumentally significant parts of the entire historic building. Let us stop at the term itself, which is not very well known in the public. The portico refers to the columned vestibule in front of the main entrance to a historic building, in our case the manor house. The portico is an element declaring the social and financial status of the owner of the manor. "Our" portico, according to the architectural-historical research of Alexander Németh, comes from the third construction phase of the manor and its construction is connected with the acquisition of the manor by Adolf Schenk after the departure of the last Motešickýs in the last quarter of the 19th century. Representativeness and visual flamboyance were part of the presentation of the members of the nobility of Adolf Schenk and his wife Jeanette, née. Popper to the outside. Apparently the newly built portico is already in the first known photograph of the manor from the 1880s. In short, a good first impression is no modern development, but it mattered even more than a century ago.

Due to prolonged dilapidation, the portico of the manor house in Ladce was in a poor condition for a long time, which was not only out of harmony with the monumental values of the whole manor house, but also endangered the life, health and safety of people moving in its vicinity. The portico was therefore professionally cleaned in 2022 under the detailed supervision of the Trenčín Regional Monuments Office, and a remediation system was applied to the cleaned facades, allowing for the crystallization of water-soluble salts along with the parallel evaporation of water/water vapour from the plaster. More technologically demanding work was required on the terrace above the portico, where the paving was replaced locally or the shallow brick vault was restored.

All works were carried out in constructive cooperation with the Regional Monuments Office Trenčín, which carried out state monument supervision during the works.

We were able to ensure the restoration of the portico thanks to the support from the subsidy programme of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic "Let's Restore Our House", which supported the project of restoration of the portico with the amount of EUR 20,000, for which we are grateful to the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.

Tomas Michalik