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Wooden churches in the Carpathian Basin

St. Michael's, 3-part block church built in 1754 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.

block church built in 1772, Bukowina type 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.

3-part block church, Galician type, built in 1670 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.

5-part block church, Huzule type (1766) 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.

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The German World Heritage Foundation was initiated by the Hanseatic Towns of Stralsund and Wismar