* Volunteer workcamps

SUMMER 2006

The volunteers
The first volunteer camp in the Janković Castle was organised during the period 16th-23rd July 2006.
The volunteers were recruited thanks to collaboration with the French organisation REMPART and Antoine Monpert who sent us five French volunteers (Sebastien Boscher, Caroline Cech, Alice-Anne Jeandel, Caroline Noel, Sebastien Plutniak) and ten Belgium girls from the scout organisation GUIDES D'HORIZONS who were contacted due to the thanks of collaboration with the Belgium Embassy in Croatia (Gaelle Bree, Anne-Sophie Buchsenschmidt, Anne-Charlotte Collins, Anne-Françoise Crickboom, Sarah Crickboom, Sophie Danhieux, Audrey De Schryver, Caroline Gerard, Aurelie Massoux, Marion Scheppers)

The camp activities were coordinated by Prof. Drago Roksandić, Nataša Štefanec, Marijeta Rajković and Tea Mayhew. Of course all activities were carried out in accordance with the Desnica family and with their participation as well as in accordance with the instructions of the Institute for Monument Preservation from Zadar. The efforts of the volunteers have contributed to the final reconstruction of the castle, making the further activities of the project possible within the castle.

Working days
The working day started every morning at 7.30am and finished about 1pm. We must mention that the weather conditions were very difficult for physical work. These were the hottest days of the summer of 2006 in Dalmatia with average temperature of 36-39C... The volunteers worked on: clearing vegetation and the yards around the outer walls, gates and sheds within the castle complex as well as inner yards, clearing the shrubs and organising the path to the Klokotuša spring near the castle, selecting building material and preparing it for re-use in the rebuilding of the outer wall, cleaned and organised two rooms in the main building of the castle, cleared four more rooms in the oldest part of the castle of building waste, vegetation and rubbish and prepared them for rebuilding.

Besides the working activities
Volunteers slept in the camp in Novigrad and they had lunch and dinner which were organised in the restaurant in Posedarje. During their work the volunteers met Lepa Petri from the Institute of Monument Preservation from Zadar who told them more about the plans and methods for the castle’s rebuilding. Mirna Petricioli MA, told them more about the revitalisation of the arboretum and the inner gardens within the castle complex, prof. Nataša Desnica (one of the owners of the castle) then told them about the history of the castle and later Marijeta Rajković from the Ethnology Department told them more about the cultural heritage of the villages of Islam Grčki, Islam Latinski and Kašić.

Besides the working activities, they had free afternoons and visited the city of Zadar, Benkovac, Vrana Lake and Biograd and spent an afternoon on a boat trip through the River Zrmanja canyon.

And the results?
Click HERE to see pictures before/after....

Account of one volunteer
“This week in Croatia was made of: a large dose of physical work, one pinch of leisure and a zest of historic and cultural teaching... The week was quite exhausting, because of the heat and of the very physical work, but we were proud of the result! And during the afternoons we could appreciate the gentle pleasures of Dalmatian life... Finally, we have learnt a lot about Croatia, in particular about this region, as well as the history of the castle and of the last war. We were young at the beginning of the 1990s and Yugoslavia seemed to us so far away... I am happy to have participated in this adventure and I wish Mostovi project a long life!” AAJ

The support
The expenses of the organisation of the camp were mostly covered by the sources of the Triplex Confinium Project (History Department, Faculty of Philosophy Zagreb) and by sources of the Serbian Cultural Society Prosvjeta.



***VOLUNTEER WORKCAMP DETAILS FOR 2007 CAN BE FOUND IN THE NEWS SECTION***