What was life like in a Baroque farm yard? Who is Master Andrew? What does it look like when the workshops of the Court of Building Crafts in the Centre of Building Heritage Plasy come to life? What does it take to make an “ordinary” mason’s spoon? In the afternoon and on the eve of St. John’s Day, the Building Crafts Court of the Building Heritage Centre of the National Technical Museum in the grounds of the Plasy Monastery will open and give away some of its secrets

The historical workshops in the Court of Building Crafts are exceptional mainly because the machines and tools hidden in them have often already exceeded a hundred years in age, yet they are still fully functional. However, showing them at work to the public is no easy task. Václav Holásek, an expert in the restoration of metal elements, machines and technical monuments, has become the expert guarantor for the event, which will be held at the Centre for Building Heritage in Plasy on the day before St. John’s Day. “ We wanted to demonstrate the ability of machines to fulfil their function up to the present day by creating a specific meaningful product,” he says emphatically. “I don’t like it when things are done just for the sake of doing something.”

He and his co-workers chose a mason’s trowel as the product to show how the machines work. “The mason’s bucket is an attribute of all builders and bricklayers and we’re creating a Builders Heritage Centre here at the National Technical Museum. Could you possibly choose anything more fitting?” explains Jakub Chaloupka, curator of the building collection. Visitors will not only have the opportunity to see the historical workshops in operation, but also to actively participate in this operation. Those who decide to make a mason’s spoon themselves will first have to buy the materials and then have the individual parts made by various craftsmen so that at the end they can take away the entire spoon, which they have made themselves with expert assistance.

The St. John’s Gateway to Craft at the Centre of Building Heritage in Plasy is part of the Summer Baroque Festival of the Pilsen Region. Throughout the day, visitors will be guided by the figure of Matěj Ondřej Kondel. Why him? Who was he? This is what visitors will find out in the “crammer’s song” prepared for this occasion by enthusiasts from the Centre of Building Heritage Plasy. They have also prepared special guided tours of the Court of Building Crafts.

The programme of the whole afternoon and evening will be accompanied by a number of other attractive accompanying events. Visitors can look forward to a thorough introduction to Baroque cuisine in theory and practice, they will be able to admire the charm of the Frisian horse and its bravura handling – after all, it is hard to imagine a Baroque farmstead without good cuisine and a strong horse, and a Baroque carousel will be waiting for the youngest visitors. The St. John’s Day celebration will be enlivened by the musical accompaniment of the Fiakr group and classical music fans can look forward to an evening concert of Baroque music performed by the Ensemble Inégal. The programme will end with a Baroque fireworks display.

The event will take place at the Centre of Building Heritage Plasy of the National Technical Museum on Saturday 23 June 2018 from 15.00 to 22.00.