Rock displacement and thermal expansion study at historic heritage sites in Slovakia

The paper discusses the results of the research devoted to the preservation of cultural heritage carried out within last two decades in Slovakia. The aim of the study depended on monitoring of selected castle rocks showing instability problems due to extremely slow displacements of creep character. Apart from traditional methods of investigation at one test site (Spis Castle), authors implemented in their work the study of thermal expansion of the rocks as a result of seasonal periodic temperature changes having potential influence on displacements and numerical modeling in order to understand better the landslide failure mechanism. The results obtained from all study sites confirmed that even slow movements have to be implemented into preservation and stabilization works in order to safeguard the sites of great historic value.