Medieval architecture

[Julian Tanase]

Have (briefly) visited an old religious site, somewhere in the deep of Republic of Moldova. The buildings there are being refurbished, the church of course being of primary interest. Around the church, they have also started to rebuild and reconstruct the old houses that belonged to this community for the last 500 yrs. This house here is an example. A very good example of a traditional Moldovian rural style house, typical of the XVI-XVII century.

Originally built from local materials, in the wattle and daub style, roof made from pine wood shingles, is what we would call today an environment friendly building. However, this is the reason why most of these didn't survived the time; those who are still standing (barely) are being reconstructed and open to public.

Not very different from the similar houses found in the same period of time in Central Europe, if you ask me. Seen this type (with minor differences) in Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and this model is somewhat representative in the NE of Romania.

Olympus OM1, Zuiko 50/1.8, Adox HR50.

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[Brian Moore]

What a delightful house, Julian. I'm guessing this is a reconstruction and not an original house refurbished. But I'd be happy if I were wrong about that.

 

[Beth Anthony]

that's a cool looking house. i'd be surprised if any of the single family houses being built now would still be standing in 400-500 years.

 

[Julian Tanase]

I did asked the prior about this. He told me that this particular house was on the premises in the XVIII century. They know this because it appears in a lithography of the period. This was the house assigned to the abbot at the time, so I gather this was because the house was larger and much better built than others on the monastery grounds. Almost completely destroyed when bolshies took over the country in 1944, it was rebuilt as per the information they had and now it is a tourist attraction, and at times, some sort of a guest house for the bishops and whatnot.

 

[Julian Tanase]

that's a cool looking house. i'd be surprised if any of the single family houses being built now would still be standing in 400-500 years.

I guess you're right. However, as far as I know, many such houses survived (not unscathed though) because they were usually part of what we would call today "peasant fortifications", meaning that usually most part of the village or monastery was protected by a curtain wall against the invaders (for more than 400 yrs, these were the ottomans or the tatars). Many were destroyed, but the community rebuilt these immediately, keeping the style untouched for hundreds of years.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Probably all over the temperate climate area there are dwellings that have something in common with this one. Made of plant material (wooden shingles, swamp reeds...) with generally very pitched roofs to prevent water infiltration. These are roofs that in their time were constantly being adjusted or redone, constantly. Like the ship of Theseus they never died, but were getting rejuvenated piece by piece. Their worst enemy was fire, the second being time.