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Folk Romanian architecture is characterized by inventiveness, by the diversity of the solutions found for solving different problems, also by the elegance of the lines and the equilibrium of the volumes.
The architecture of the houses varies depending on the climate, on the occupation and the social-economic state of the peasants. For example, in the pastoral-agricultural areas, we can see double courtyard households. In the villages where the houses are spread on the hills and mountains (where the main occupation is rearing sheep or cattle), the courtyard is hardened, so the households look like little fortresses.
The main features of the landscape can be found in the architecture of the houses – in the mountain areas, houses have tall and hip roofs; in the plain, the roof is similar to the low slopes of the relief.
Building materials
Building materials differ from one region to another. It is used the fir, the oak wood, the beech wood. The enormous forests that could be found in the past all over Romania have been the main source of raw material for the folk architecture. Stones, bricks or clods of earth mixed with straws and chaff are also used.
The folk architecture is mainly (especially in the high areas) a wooden architecture. As a result of the outage of the raw material, the oldest wooden monuments don’t overreach 400 years.
Houses and Their Diversity
Known in the most European countries, the hut (an underground house) is the oldest house, dating from prehistoric times. In the plain, the hut was used for habitation not only by the rich peasants, but also by the boyars. In the Southern Oltenia, where the hut was made entirely of oak wood, its price was bigger than the one of a house built on the surface.
Huts were found especially in the Danube plain. In time, only poor men began to use them. They caved the earth without constructing the wooden base, which was replaced with a wattle.
When you enter a hut, you find yourself in the first room (called “garlici”), which goes down until the level of the usual rooms. The hearth is in the next room. Instead of oven, the peasants used a round deep lid made of clay (occasionally the lid was made of stone), named “test”. This was fabricated by women during a feast called “Repotinul testelor”. The fire was lighted under the “test”. After it was glowing, the “test” was put over the aliments that had to be cooked. Embers were placed over and around the “test”.
From the main room you could enter two other rooms. One of them was the pantry (or the stable) and the other was the living room, where the family slept. The beds were placed along the walls.
Some huts had five rooms. From the two lateral rooms one could enter other two.
The roof was made of straws and earth.
The house, built on the earth surface, is different from one area to another. Sometimes the peasant houses remind of the ancient times or of the people the Romanians met along the history.
The usual rooms of the peasant house were the “tinda”, the room used for habitation, the pantry, the “clean” room, the attic and the cellar. Each room had several functions. The family usually lived in the room where the fire was lighted. The fire offered heat, helped preparing the food and gave light during the night. At the old houses, the entirely family lived in the room where the hearth was placed.
“Tinda” was the passage room. In some areas of the country, the oven for baking bread or even the hearth were placed in this room (in this case, “tinda” was used as a kitchen). In many regions of Romania, “tinda” served for storing domestic objects and some aliments. Sometimes it was used for sleeping, but the beds rarely appeared here.
In the room used for habitation ( “odaia de locuit” ) the hearth (when this wasn’t placed in “tinda”) or the oven (at the old houses) were usually placed.
In the pantry the peasants stored the work tools, the aliments and the instrument used in the domestic textile industry.
The “clean room” (also named “beautiful room”, “clean house”, “big house”, “good house”, “the upper room”) was included in the peasant house beginning with the 19th century. The finest furniture and textiles were kept in here. The clean room was only occasionally used, when there was a feast or when the guests arrived. Its festive function is also indicated by the fact that it had no heating system.
In the attic were kept the aliments used as a reserve (the big boxes with cereal crops or cheese) and the meat was hanged here for smoking-dry.
In the cellar were stored the fruit, the barrels with wine or with “tuica” (a Romanian traditional drink), the jars with pickles and the green goods. Not all the houses have a cellar.
At the beginning of the 19th century the one room-house was the most common. The house with pantry appeared later, but the living room still continued to be named “house”. It can still be found today in the Apuseni Mountains.
A more evolved form was the house with “tinda”, that could be found especially in Northern and Central Transylvania, in Moldavia and Northern Oltenia.
Another type of house had a living room, “tinda” and a pantry (used for aliments).
The most complex traditional house had two rooms separated by “tinda” and a pantry. One of the rooms (the clean room) is only used occasionally.
Characteristic for the Romanian traditional house is the porch (“prispa”). “Prispa” is a space for recreation, but also for work. It plays a very important role in the esthetics of the house, being very nicely ornate.
The peasant house is usually horizontally extended. That is the reason for which the single leveled house can be found all over Romania, no matter its age, its plan or its architecture.
The two-storied houses appeared beginning with the 18th century. At the ground floor there were the cellar, the pantry, the summer kitchen (later) and even the living room. The bedrooms and the festive room were situated upstairs.
In Walachia, Moldavia and Dobrogea the two-storied houses remind of the buildings from the Balkan Peninsula. There are two types of houses in these areas: the fortified house and the belvedere house (“casa cu foisor”). The first one resembles the “cule” (fortified houses of the boyars). The staircase is protected by a wall and by a strong door. The belvedere house is one of the most interesting house types in the Romanian architecture. The belvedere is actually obtained by widening the porch above the entrance. The house is built on a high stone foundation and the cellar door is situated below the belvedere.
The two-storied houses can also be found in Transylvania, in the Hunedoara County. Impressive buildings made of stone, they resemble the ones from Oltenia region. The stone architecture has an old tradition in this area, where the Dacian kings had built their fortresses.
A construction with Saxon influences, similar to the belvedere can be found in the Sibiu County.
The most interesting and numerous two storied-houses can be found in the South of the Carpathian Mountains. They have a large cellar at the ground floor, easy to watch over. It was a perfect storage place for the peasants in the hill and mountain areas.
Earthen and clay brick houses can still be found today in the Walachia plain.
On the coping of the roof rows of variously shaped shingles are placed and at the edges pieces of carved wood named “tepi” (spines) can sometimes be found. The spines can also be made of enameled ceramic, brightly colored, usually representing birds.
The furniture of the living room and of the clean room is adapted to its functions. The interior is characterized by four important places, symmetrical one to the other: the corner containing the hearth; the corner containing the bed; the corner containing the “lavite” and the corner containing the dish case. The center of the room is always empty. This arrangement shows the care the peasant had for saving space. The furniture pieces are placed along two or three sides of the room. Many times they are built in the walls or fixed in the ground.
Decorations and Decorative Motifs
The house was meant to protect against the weather and from the strangers, but in the same time it was supposed to protect the family from the unseen forces the peasants believed in. That’s why the eaves, windows and doors, the hearth and the girders were ornate with protective superstitious elements.
The richest decoration is found on the “prispa” and belvedere, which are ideal for carving. The main motives are geometrical, but floral elements can also be found, as well as animals, adapted human forms and multiple symbols related to the ancient beliefs.
Gates and Fences
On the gates and the fence, which defended peasants from the evil spirits, protective symbols can often be found.
The impressive wooden gates from Maramures, Targu Jiu, Sibiu, Fagaras, Cluj, Valcea, Buzau, Ciuc and Odorhei amaze the eye by the beauty of their decorations. The poles are entirely ornate with geometrical and vegetal elements.
The stone gates are especially found in Transylvania, where the brick architecture is better developed.
The fences were made mainly of rods, reed, the stone or bricks being seldom used. | |
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