This is best seen in long-distance visits. When we were there in May 2015, it was already obvious that one of the oldest houses in the historic center of Bratislava had been saved. It had a new roof, a new facade and cleaned rooms.
In April 2021, the building at Kapitulská 1 was already partially painted, had new windows, historic paintings were restored inside, and the outer courtyard with gravel was turned into a garden.
During the past week, we found two groups of workers oscillating there at the same time, and another big shift in the reconstruction was noticeable.
“We are finishing the interior, floors, parquet, acoustic ceiling and multi-point dimmable lighting, so that it is comfortable to play and listen here. And they just came to build a stage for concerts in the garden,” explains Igor Valentovič from the civic association Albrecht forum. Together with their family, friends and other supporters, they have been working on restoration here for twelve years.
Their main goal is still the same. The house is to become a cultural center again, as it was in the times when the Albrecht family lived here, this time an official one. Today he is very close to that. Also thanks to the great mobilization in the recent campaign and the gesture of a private funder.
What does 30,000 euros mean?
They were delighted when they were chosen from among four hundred monuments among the nine finalists of the “Treasures of Slovakia” competition. Back then, no one knew what would happen. The voting was tight until the last day.
In all previous years, almost 19,000 votes in online voting would have meant a sovereign victory – this year it was a narrow loss, because the Gothic frescoes in the village of Stará Halič near Lučenac were able to mobilize a few hundred more votes in the end.
The Albrecht forum put up with it, but the organizer of the competition, the VÚB Foundation, decided to make a gesture after five days. On Tuesday, June 20, he announced that he had awarded the Albrecht House a special grant in the same amount as the Gothic wall paintings in Stara Galicia. This means that both monuments will receive 30,000 euros each for reconstruction.
“It is a great satisfaction, for us and for all those who supported us. We received over six hundred congratulations and many other positive reactions. People began to identify with the Albrecht House, many learned about it for the first time and realized that we can have something new in Bratislava, let’s support it,” say members of the Albrecht forum association.
We’re talking in the garden, after they’ve gathered for a photo together. Those who could and who most deserved a successful campaign came. Many other people help and support them.
The unexpected financial injection is good for them, but they point out that it is still only around 3-4 percent of the total budget. The house is huge – its area is up to 450 square meters, the garden is “only” 350. It was built seven hundred years ago, and Igor Valentovič summarizes that the Albrecht Forum has invested approximately 700,000 so far in the reconstruction, i.e. “every year of history, a thousand “. They estimate the total amount of the renovation together with the necessary equipment at 900,000 euros.
On the black and white photo, an archival shot showing the condition of the house in 2010. Photo N – Tomáš Benedikovič Spring 2021. Photo N – Vladimír Šimíček Spring 2015. Photo N – Tomáš Benedikovič
History of the house
When the Albrecht family settled in the medieval house in 1945, they turned it into an oasis of art. Alexander Albrecht (1885 – 1956) was a composer, conductor of the Church Music Society at St. Martin and teachers.
His son Ján, nicknamed Hansi (1919 – 1996), was a violist, musicologist, esthetician and taught at the nearby College of Performing Arts. At home, however, he ran his own informal university where, in addition to chamber concerts, he cultivated what the French call knowing how to live – art of life, education and refinement of taste.
A unique space breathing the atmosphere of old Prešpork in the middle of gray Bratislava survived the communist regime. After the death of Hansi’s wife Viera in 2003, the church, as the owner of the house, planned to rebuild the house for accommodation for retired clergy.
After talks with the members of the newly founded civic association, the church went out to meet the memorials of the Albrechts’ meeting and the volunteers. She rented the house to them for 25 years. The preamble of the rental agreement gives the memorial value of the house a fundamental importance that goes beyond the length of the rental relationship and the possibility of its extension.
Why does a monument in Bratislava need support?
During the Treasures of Slovakia competition, many people pondered why it is necessary to support the monument in the capital and not the others. Bratislava is the richest region, but
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