The Reconstruction of the Zeleméry-Rákóczi Castle, Borsi

Architects: Péter Pásztor, Zoltán Wittinger
Text and photos: József Sebestyén

Located in Borsi in Sovakia, near Sátoraljaújhely, there is the Zeleméry-Rákóczi Castle built from the 1560s on, which has had lots of owners during its history. Its most famous resident, Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II was born in this building in the spring of 1676. After the comprehensive reconstruction of the highly deteriorated building started in 2000, in the summer of 2021 the building restored after designs by Péter Pásztor and Zoltán Wittinger was opened to the public with a historical survey exhibition. Based on high-standard well-elaborated designs, and studied for a long time, the structure now reflects its past in its exterior revealing the featurs of the individual stages of construction, the various stone-framed openings, the careful details of plastered and restored surfaces. As it is reflected by the ruinous and partly destroyed parts of the building, the original structure has been preserved in a mixed way, as a „composite historic building”, more as an entirety and less as a ruin, the wings shaped from contemporary forms of architecture are well adjusted to their historic milieu.

Architects: Zoltán Wittinger – NÖF; Péter Pásztor
Interiors: Zoltán Wittinger, Péter Pásztor, Lukáš Sečka, Daniel Capek, Marek Turošík
Landscape: Anita Szabadics, Zita Németh – NÖF
Structure: Ján Kanócz, Gustáv Čop
HVAC: Martin Tiller, Ladislav Majerník, Michal Kövér
Electrical engineering: Gabriel Galeštok
Kitchen technology: Štefan Labanc
Fire protection: Petr Čížek
Roads: Vladimír Vydra
Exhibition: MOME Budapest
Building research: Jan Krcho
Archaeology: Peter Tajkov, Árpád Balogh
Restoration research: Peter Gomboš, Jozef Porubovič – VILLARD, Bratislava
Investor: II. Rákóczi Ferenc Nonprofit Szervezet, Borsi
Main contractor: ÉPSZER, Sárospatak
Restoration works: VILLARD, Bratislava