A Bootcamp Holiday, a Miracle and a Blessing

Delbert Adams | Oct 04, 2023

(Delbert Adams runs Sheffield Hardwood in Tamworth, who advertises in the Frontenac News from time to time. He mentioned that he was headed to Hungary to participate in restoration work on a building there, so we asked him to report back on his experiences. It is food for thought that almost 80 years after the end of WWII, not everything has been restored, such is the impact of war over time)

The first week of September 2023 saw 30 volunteer hardwood floor experts (parquetiers) from around the world converge on the city of Győr in Hungary, to work together on a complex hardwood floor restoration project. Hungary and the city, Győr, have seen more than their share of wars and fighting over the centuries, and have continually rebuilt from these devastating events.

The purpose of our gathering was to restore, in the Bishop’s Palace, an existing 150 year-old 2100 sq ft antique parquet floor and, by hand, build a new replica 800 sq ft parquet floor in an adjoining room. The palace building had been extensively damaged during WWII and for the most part rebuilt since. These floors were the final milestone of the post-war re-construction project.

During our stay, the parquet floor was restored, using period,1850’s, techniques, hand scraping, fitting, hide gluing, shim/filler leveling, and using oil and wax as protective coating. The 30 parquetiers travelled from Europe: Hungary, Czech Republic, Holland, Italy, Great Britian, Portugal, Romania and Spain, with 4 from Australia, 2 from Canada and 1 from the USA.

Parquet and purpose were the common languages between all participants with English understood by approx. 50%. The “parquet language” and the serious commitment to complete the project overcame any communication difficulties.

Late in the week an appreciation celebration was hosted by the current Bishop András Veres of Győr. A soloist accompanied by pianist provided a touching musical tribute and a delicious meal was provided, as was wine from the Bishop’s vineyard.

Bishop András Veres made a speech thanking the participants and he shared a comment from discussions with his colleagues where it was mentioned “why would someone who had 2 weeks off fly ½ way around the world to install a floor – to do such hard work”

The Bishop described the wondrous assemblage of these skilled craftspeople, from around the world, to restore their floors, as a miracle – a “Miracle of the Pentecost”: People from around the world – who don’t speak the same tongue but understand the common language of “Parquet”, he said, were here to work on our floors, and close that final chapter of our lives, when the last damage to the building had suffered during WWII is finally restored.

The Bishop’s Palace was damaged during the war. As the war was coming to a close, Soviet Russian soldiers plundered at will. A Soviet army base was located not far from Győr, Hungary. At the time, Vilmos Apor de Altorja was the Bishop of the church in Győr and had been an outspoken critic of both communist and Nazi practices.

• On the afternoon of 28 March 1945 - Good Friday - as Soviet troops reached his diocese, he offered safe haven to numerous women and children in his residence and also protected women who feared being raped. Four or five drunken Soviet soldiers arrived with the intention of bringing 100 women to their barracks but Apor had them well-hidden in the cellar. He refused to give them up and a long altercation saw an officer making threats with his gun and soon gave chase to a girl who came out of her hiding place; the girl screamed "Uncle Vilmos! Help!" and he ran to her defense and shouted at them: "Out! Get out of here!" The officers turned to leave but one officer turned around and opened fire with a machine gun that shot him three times. Apor suffered a first shot that grazed his forehead as well as a second in the right sleeve of his cassock and the third that perforated his abdomen. Meanwhile the soldiers became frightened and fled the scene

Bishop Apor died from his wounds a few days later.

While in Győr, we met many people whose families had experienced war trauma and the common behavior was generosity, friendliness and love for their families, their marriages and their church. While working at the Bishop’s Palace we saw 2000 couples arrive to renew their marriage vows, a regular event. While visiting a neighboring town for lunch, near Lake Balaton, we saw 100’s of couples walking along a pathway – holding hands. None of this is or should be out of the ordinary, but the scale of commitment and the affection was not familiar to us.

The room the parquetiers installed is dedicated to Bishop Apor, and a time capsule and a bottle of wine from the Bishop’s vineyard have been interred in the floor.

Bishop András Veres stated that the restoration of this room was the final milestone towards repairing damage incurred during the second world war and that it was a miracle to have all of these skilled parquetiers attend to complete this work.

We are blessed to have been selected to participate in such a significant milestone for the Bishop’s Palace, to work with such illustrious and accomplished parquetiers from around the world and to have shared in generous Hungarian hospitality.