Workcamp Parquet Restorer will take place August 25-29, 2025, in Austria. The project brings together restorers, heritage conservationists, and experts in historic parquet flooring from three continents. The goal is to teach traditional craft techniques, promote the international exchange of experience, and contribute to the preservation of important cultural assets.
The event is organized in cooperation with the association Workcamp Parquet, the Charterhouse Mauerbach (the Centre for Heritage Conservation of the Austrian Federal Monuments Office), and Coburg University of Applied Sciences (Faculty of Design, Department of Architecture).
The Charterhouse Mauerbach, as a training and research center, offers ideal conditions for specialist lectures and workshops on historical materials, tools, and techniques. The Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, with its original parquet floors, serves as a practical site for restoration work. Part of the parquet restoration will already take place in July as part of the summer semester 2025 application week at Coburg University, in a workshop on traditional surface treatments and glues, organized by Workcamp Parquet.
“This year’s focus includes professional workshops that teach participants the principles and ethical approaches of restoration and prepare them for the restoration of historic parquet floors in Esterházy Palace; Care and Repair, Circular Heritage, ReUse of materials and tools, and the reversibility of technologies and materials used,” said René Caran of Workcamp Parquet.
The five-day program includes topics such as cleaning and maintenance of historic parquet floors, removal of modern coatings, use of traditional animal glues, working with historical tools, non-invasive surface treatments, documentation, damage analysis, and ethical aspects of restoration.
On August 28, Esterházy Palace will host an Open Day with guided demonstrations of the restoration work in its original setting. Due to limited capacity, registration via email is required: mauerbach@bda.gv.at. On August 29, a formal certificate ceremony will take place for active participants, followed by an excursion to the unique parquet floors of the Liechtenstein City Palace in Vienna. For more information, please visit: workcamp-parquet.cz