Project news About EEA Grants New exhibitions Brewery and mead fermentation facility Monastery school Cyprian’s pharmacy and manufacture Digital detox camp Project partners

Here you can follow the progress of the project through its key activities. Click on the name of an activity beneath the flying monk Brother Cyprian, and a timeline documenting its progress will be displayed.

Although the pandemic slowed us down, we are doing our best to make up for the lost time. Join us on this journey.

Study Visit of Representatives of the Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic and Partner Organisations Norsk Kulturarv and the National Trust of Norway to Monasteries and Other Cultural Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom

At the end of August 2023, the Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic, in cooperation with Cyprián, n.o. and its Norwegian partner organisations Norsk Kulturarv and the National Trust of Norway, secured funding for a study visit to the United Kingdom through a bilateral initiative under the Fund for Bilateral Relations, as part of the programme “Cultural Entrepreneurship, Cultural Heritage and Cultural Cooperation”, co-financed by the EEA Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014–2021.

The study visit builds upon the project “Red Monastery – Reborn”, also funded by the EEA and Norway Grants. The project’s main objective is the restoration of the nationally significant cultural monument of the monastery complex in Červený Kláštor (Red Monastery) and the revival of selected historic functions and activities that will attract visitors while generating additional income necessary for its long-term sustainability and continued restoration.

The project has been implemented since the beginning of 2020 and provides the framework for a variety of activities carried out in cooperation with Norwegian partners. Our joint meetings have led us to conclude that ensuring the long-term sustainability of cultural heritage sites requires not only creating and operating attractive visitor experiences—such as brewing beer and mead, producing herbal products, offering accommodation in former monks’ cells, and organising activities for families and school groups through the Monastery School—but also developing effective marketing strategies and well-organised visitor engagement programmes.

Discussions with our Norwegian partners revealed similar challenges in Norway. Together, we agreed that the most inspiring examples of long-standing good practice in this field can be found in the United Kingdom.

The purpose of the study visit is therefore to gain and adapt practical experience in cultural heritage management, as well as in developing, promoting and marketing unique local products connected with sustainably managed cultural heritage sites.

The study visit is intended for a group of eight experts representing the participating institutions from both countries. Following several months of communication with staff from selected monasteries and museums, we successfully arranged a series of meetings at their sites between 25 September and 2 October 2023.

We believe that this visit will provide valuable insights that will help the “Red Monastery – Reborn” project achieve its objectives while further enhancing the monastery’s cultural and historical significance. We aim to learn from the proven practices of British institutions in public engagement, marketing of events, promotion of unique products, and the delivery of cultural goods and services, and to apply this knowledge both in Slovakia and within cultural heritage institutions in Norway.

Main Objectives of the Study Visit

  1. Inspiration: To gain inspiration and identify proven best practices that will contribute to the more effective restoration and management of the monastery complex in Červený Kláštor, Slovakia. The visit will also broaden our practical experience in presenting and marketing institution-produced products, while exploring specialised approaches to preserving historical and cultural heritage.
  2. Experience: To acquire practical knowledge in the production and marketing of local products created by members of the surrounding community and offered at cultural heritage sites that serve as tourist destinations. Revenue generated through these activities contributes not only to the long-term sustainability of heritage sites but also to preserving and promoting local traditions and regional identity.
  3. Cooperation: The study visit also provides an opportunity to strengthen international cooperation between cultural heritage institutions in Norway, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Its goal is to establish a platform for sharing best practices that can be applied across all three countries, enriching their work in the field of cultural heritage conservation and management.

New exhibitions

  • Beginning of works

    Since it takes a long time to prepare an exhibition which is sound and up-to-date, we decided to start right after the project was approved. The most important thing was to find the right people for the team.

  • Outburst of pandemic

    Although we only just started, pandemic put a halt to all our efforts – except for the part concerning new exhibition. We made use of our home-office time to find experts for the team and outline the design of the exhibition on history of the Red Monastery.

  • Partners of the exhibition on the history of the Red Monastery

    During the summer we had a series of meetings with representatives of the Stará Lubovňa Castle Museum, the Spiš Museum in Spišská Nová Ves and in autumn with the East Slovak Museum in Košice. We reached agreements with all of them and cooperation agreements are already being signed.

  • Authors of the libretto and exhibition script

    Mr. Peter Glos (texts and pictures for the main interactive exhibit) and Mr. Miroslav Števk, a historian (exhibition of the history of the Red Monastery) will be the authors of the libretto and the script of the exhibition.

  • The first variant of the scenario is ready.

    We started to comment on the first version of the scenario of the exhibition, which was sent to us by Mr. Števík, the historian of the Spiš Museum. We will soon meet on the spot and start working on the artistic and spatial solution of the exhibition.

  • EXPOSURE SCENARIO - VERSION FOR ARTISTIC-SPATIAL SOLUTION COMPLETED.

    On Friday, May 7, together with the author of the script, we adjusted it to a form that will be part of the processing into the form of an artistic-spatial solution. There was also a small competition for a “unified visual style”, which determines the basic design parameters of all project outputs.

  • We are looking for a supplier of artistic and spatial design of the new exhibition.

     

    Today, we addressed 5 architects or companies designing museum exhibitions (and at the same time, we have published a call for proposals at our web page pamiatky.sk) to provide us with artistic and spatial design of the new museum exhibition and propose a price for necessary project documentation. We are convinced we shall receive many great proposals!

Brewery and mead fermentation facility

  • Original state - ground floor E

    This is the way the ground floor looked like in the premises E at the end of 2019. In the future, it will accommodate the brewery and the mead fermentation facility.

     

  • We started right away at the beginning of 2020.

    Everything had been removed – floors, nets, tiles even the plaster.

  • The exhibition in the second courtyard.

    Once we could re-open the museum after anti-pandemic measures, we put up a small exhibition in the second courtyard presenting future design of the new brewery.

     

Monastery school

  • Original state - "common room".

    The largest room of the original school in nature – dining room and “dance floor”. Several generations of Bratislava children and youth had their first discos here.

     

  • Ready for restoration.

    New utilities, plasters and floors: space for the activities of the monastery school and the Cyprian’s manufactory. Hard to imagine as yet but from 2023, these premises will serve as training centre for the staff of the Monument’s Board & visitors of creative workshop will be able to make their own products from medicinal herbs.

     

Cyprian’s pharmacy and manufacture

  • Original state - former kitchen in the school in nature.

    Our demolition works started right here in May 2019.  Future “kitchen” will serve for preparation of different “meals”

  • Demolition of the ceiling

    Instead of starting from the bottom, we chose the ceiling…and continued with air-conditioning, and waste removal.

  • Removal of tiling.

    In the autumn, after the summer season, we carried on by removing the tiles from the walls.

     

  • Cleaned.

    In July 2020, we cleaned the entire area of the 1st floor, premises E and now, a company that won the tender, can come and start the renovation.

     

  • ADJUSTMENT OF HERBAL GARDENS.

    Spring has finally arrived in the Red Monastery, so we were able to begin the planned modification and expansion of herb gardens within the ruins of the monk’s houses. The new soil, specially prepared and prepared for herbs, will expand the area under cultivation by several ares.

Digital detox camp

  • Original state - rooms of monks

    The hallway leading to the five rooms of the monks will be nicely restored and refurbished in a 60’s design. We shall pay respect to the designers half a century ago and restore the door frames, radiator covers and the like in their style.

     

  • Demolition of partitions and removal of old heating just started.

    Rooms will be completely refurbished and designed according to a new layout.

  • Door frames removed, partitions demolished.

    At the beginning of autumn 2020, the premises of the future “rooms of the monks” as well as the adjoining premises – the library, the fireplace room or the large meeting room – were prepared for the replacement of utilities and construction modifications. In these common rooms, the original design from the 60’s will be revived.

     

Project partners

  • Originally planned meeting with Norwegian partners

    At the beginning of May 2020, according to the original agreement, our Norwegian partners were to come to Slovakia to join us at our first meeting. We decided to postpone the meeting to the fall – end of September and beginning of October.

  • Striving to make our first meeting come true

    At the beginning of September, we contacted our Norwegian partners again. We discussed the possibilities of their travels to Slovakia for a meeting in the Red Monastery – via Krakow or Vienna. At that time, the Government of the Kingdom of Norway recommended that its citizens travel abroad only in the most urgent cases. Therefore, we decided, also with regard to the pandemic situation during that month, to postpone the meeting until the time when the vaccine is available. However, we will try to get in touch via video conferencing on the occasion of the launch of the new museum website.

  • VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH PARTNERS.

    A video conference was held with our project partners. We agreed on the framework and frequency of meetings in this form. We very much believe that we could meet in person at the Red Monastery in the autumn. Until then, we will develop a joint work: a set of arguments for advocacy of cultural heritage.