Folk architecture – The way home

For many years we were observing the slow disappearance of wooden folk architecture from the landscape. What was common and usual in the past, is on the verge of extinction, nowadays.

Crossig the Polish-Czech border area (Klodzko Land, Orlické Mountains and Podorlicko) we can still find many folk buildings. Slightly different depending on the area, they stand out, like rare flowers, with their unique features, like steep roofs and crowned construction, and if we are lucky, we will also be able to spot their influence on the neighboring (newer) buildings, in the form of masonry walls.

Nowadays, these old houses are the subject of special care, especially in Czech Republic. In many villages you can find interesting examples of folk buildings. Habitants love these houses, by the way they they keep the original features, all the way through meticulous preservation, paint (original) and gardening.

On the Polish side, it is worth to visit the Open Air Museum of Folk Culture of Sudety Foothills in Kudowa-Zdrój which presents a few folk gems transferred from Klodzko Land area (can you imagine the complexity of moving whole buildings piece by piece?). If you want to see how it used to be in the countryside there, we highly recommend you pay this place a visit.

Open Air Museum of Folk Culture of Sudety Foothills in Kudowa-Zdrój

Abandoned crowned construction house in Kudowa-Zdrój

Jiráskova Chata in Dobrošov

Dušan Jurkovič was a famous Slovak architect and ethnographer from the turn of the 19th and 20th century. He was a creator of unique architecture style that was strongly influenced by folk motives. Many of his works involved wood creations - he is referred to be "the poet of the wood". He was creating objects with great attention to detail and perfectly matching the landscape, like mountain hostels, private villas, war graves units and many others.

This versatile artist has created timeless architectural works that became famous landmarks. You can find this masterpieces in the territory of Czech Republic, Slovakia and also Poland.

Our first meeting with Dušan Jurkovič architecture was in the Hradec Králové Region, in the area located very close to the Polish border. In this mountainous neighborhood you can find some of his fairy tale buildings.

Definitely, worth visiting is a place called Peklo, located in a deep valley ("peklo" translates as "hell"). There is a former mill that Jurkovič rebuilt into a restaurant for tourists in 1908-1910. A few kilometers from that place, in Dobrošov village, you can find a lovely mountain hostel Jiráskova Chata built in the years 1921-1924. It is a well known spatial dominant of the area. From the top of the tower you can admire the surroundings.

To be continued.

And remember... Dušan Jurkovič is definitely worth a trip to Hell!

Restaurant for tourists in Peklo

Tag: Folk architecture

Folk architecture gems in the Polish-Czech border area

Dušan Jurkovič – the Poet of Wood