Wooden churches in the Carpathian Basin
The wooden churches
in the Carpathians have a building tradition which is over 1000 years
old and which extends into our own time. On the territory of Ukraine
alone there are over 1,800 properties which in their diversity and
typology reflect the history of the different ethnic groups who live
there.
Anyone who has ever been to the Carpathians will know what the wooden churches mean for the landscape of this wooded mountain range which forms a wide curve stretching through six countries in South-eastern Europe: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania and the Ukraine. The unmistakable impression of these examples of folk architecture with their staggered groups of towers, intricate shingle roofs and galleries for the protection of the walls is not easily forgotten. In spite of all their variety, which is the result of differing regional traditions and liturgical requirements, they all have something in common: the use of wood as a building material and the resulting structural opportunities and limits.
In contrast to the Norwegian stave
churches for example, in which all supporting parts of the structure
are in a vertical position, in the Carpathian churches the beams are
usually laid over one another in log-cabin style, i.e. horizontally.
This implies limits for the size of the rooms, a restriction which is
overcome by interconnecting several rooms and assigning different
liturgical purposes to them. This ‘suite of rooms’
gives the outer structure the picturesque appearance of a group
structure the parts of which were formed and accentuated differently
depending on the tradition according to which the church in question
was built.
Since the 19th
century, wooden structures have been increasingly on the defensive with
regard to stone structures in Eastern Europe too. More and more of
these characteristic little churches are being abandoned, left to rot
or even demolished. Economic difficulties usually leave the state very
little leeway for securing and preserving them as architectural
monuments independently of the use to which they are put. Churches in
which services are still held often suffer from the effects of
well-meaning but inexpert modernisation.
Taking up a recommendation of ICOMOS
(International Council on Monuments and Sites, expert advisory organ of
the World Heritage Committee), the German World Heritage Foundation and
experts of the Polytechnic University of L’viv have agreed on
the surveying and scientific examination of six churches located in the
Ukrainian part of the Carpathian Mountains. They have already been
entered into the tentative list of examples of Ukrainian natural and
cultural heritage to be nominated to UNESCO for inclusion in the World
Heritage List.