UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
INSTITUTE FOR MASONRY & CONSTRUCTION RESEARCH
TEL: (+356) 2340 2866
FAX: (+356) 21 346225
Visit by Dr Akos Torok
May 2004
Dr Akos Torok, a geologist who is Associate Professor in the Department of
Construction Materials and Engineering Geology at the Budapest University of
Technology
and
Economics,
Hungary,
(http://www.epito.bme.hu/eat/htdocs/dolgozok/dolgozo_reszlet.php?felhasznal
onev=toroka) visited the Institute for Masonry and Construction Research
from the 1st to the 5th of May 2004.
Dr Torok, who holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in geology, as well as an M.Sc.
in environmental engineering and science, lectures undergraduate students
and graduate students in the Faculty of Civil Engineering, the Faculty of
Architecture and the Faculty of Geology at Budapest University. He has
participated in several bilateral scientific and research programmes on stone
weathering and atmospheric pollution and has published numerous papers on
this and other subjects, as well as 7 book chapters (4 in English and 3 in
Hungarian).
During his visit to the University of Malta, Dr Torok gave a number of lectures
to the postgraduate students of the Institute for Masonry and Construction
Research. Lectures were held on the properties of building and ornamental
stones and their recognition, including also a practical session where the
students learnt how to recognise various stones through the examination of
hand-held specimens as well as thin sections.
Other lectures were on the laboratory testing of building stones, the alteration
of stone properties due to weathering, stone decay features and their field
description, and case studies.
Dr Torok also gave a Public Lecture organised by the Institute for Masonry
and Construction Research in collaboration with Heritage Malta, held at the
headquarters of Heritage Malta in Valletta. This lecture, entitled
“Environmental Thinking: Memory of Stones. What can we learn from the
building stones of Budapest” started by giving some general background to
Budapest, its monuments and their conservation problems, and then
concentrated on the case study of the Hungarian Houses of Parliament. The
audience heard about this magnificent building, which comprises 691 rooms,
immense halls and over 12.5 miles of corridors, and which is currently
undergoing restoration.