Brotherhood of the Harp and the Sword Kvapocky kids choir summer camp 2006 Selmberk castle, Czech Republic As usual, after a year of hard work singing, the choir went to enjoy 15 days in a summer camp. This year, we moved into the 14th century and were training to become knights of the Order of the Harp and the Sword. We spent the first week fighting a band of thieves who used to rule our castle. We were fulfilling a secret mission (guarding the greek fire) in the second week, and came under attack of the armies of Emperor Heinrich. Photos by Daniel (8/06).	back to the photo archive

Take a look at the photos which the kids took during our alchemy (pinhole) workshop

Tereza, Maria and Jana, novices of the Order of the Harp and Sword are getting ready for the journey on our way to Selmberk, a castle that belongs to our Order we surprise a bunch of thieves living in the castle. they run away, but later try to attack us Hana and Marusa joyfully sing a song about judgment day Szili and Ondrej test their skills for the upcoming challenge from the thieves hand-wrestling was one of the challenges. This is an exhibition match between Stevo & Lukas shouting was another event in which we were supposed to challenge the thieves. Verona tries hard. Zora the castle witch foretells Maria her future. "Beware of men in green..." catching raindrops under a roof an evening courage-challenge. one had to go all the way up a long creaky stairway to check a mysterious door Mata and Jana at singing practice fantastic cooking by Alenka. She is making "pirohy" right now (triangular dumplings filled with cottage cheese, potatoes or plums/cherries) Lukas with the boys gets some wood ready sword-fighting training in the forest. our swords are made of a plastic tube wrapped in a foam insulation tube and duct-tape the thief captain something left the mysterious door. We try to track it. the traces lead us around the castle what could it be? can we sleep safely tonight? fun at camp a strange thing happened. Our oldest girls disappeared. we suspect the thieves and spend the day looking for them after getting some help in the village, a bad-tempered forest-keeper finally gives us a clue we find the girls, all tied up and crying. they said they felt sorry for the thieves, so they went with them, but that the thieves treated them badly and tied them up. however, they overheard them talking about their treasure. they stole their map! an evening game where we tested our medieval knowledge (food, medicine...) what do you think a fresh hen torn apart and put on one's head was supposed to heal? (answer: craziness) morning coffee. Damian, assistant cook, Alenka, chief cook, Stevo, leader music practice. Clapping music by Steve Reich while the kids practice, Dusan, Lukas and Stevo shoot horse-chestnuts Hana and Jonatan Martina, our medic Tereza Verona and Kathy make music Stevo and the kids Mato (not really trying to fly) yummy chicken one of the punishments for undisciplined behavior: the shame cage

Take a look at the photos which the kids took during our alchemy (pinhole) workshop