An important place among the monuments of folk art is occupied by the architecture of folk housing. As Oleksandr Dovzhenko called it - "the architectural foremother of human shelter." From ancient times, architectural folk art has conveyed to our days evidence of the human values of our people, highly artistic, economic, cultural, and moral.
The Ukrainian people were under social oppression for many centuries, were almost completely isolated from the constantly developing world professional architectural and artistic schools and trends. Despite all this, they reached aesthetically important heights in the variety of varieties of decorative and applied arts and their harmonization.
Poltava region. Late 19th - early 20th century.
The absolutely typical placement of the house in the middle of the yard, at a fairly large distance from the street (it was also called "deep") is characteristic of Poltava estates. Windows facing the sun, with a separation of a residential building and outbuildings. In general, the architectural and compositional structure of Poltava houses is one of the expressions of the architecture of the forest-steppe regions of Left-Bank Ukraine. It is characterized by the following features:
- proportional ratio of the height of the wall and roof - they are equal;
- the streamlined contour of a hipped thatched roof, which was created with laid or crushed straw, sometimes filled with liquid clay;
- asymmetrical placement of individual parts of the facade wall, according to the respective purposes of different rooms of the dwelling (house, hallway, pantry).
Residential complex, Poltava region, Kobelyatsky district, village of Velyki
The buildings of Poltava region were characterized by the roof "overhanging" over the walls. The architectural elements supporting the roof were decorated with a variety of carved floral ornaments. Part of the wall of the facade, in front of the pantry or the entrance to the residential part, and sometimes several facades were surrounded by a gallery.
The final artistic completeness and value of the products of folk craftsmen were acquired as a result of various means of carving (contour, profile, for example, and others). In the people's imagination, architectural elements of housing and other elements of material culture (for example, clothing) were logically united in names. Thus, the bottom of the shirt and the lower element of the roof were called "platbands", and in both cases they were decorated with an ornamental strip.
Along with the residential complex, the traditional costume of the region is characteristic - a lacy white shirt embroidered with white threads, a richly colored "kersetka" - the upper part of the costume, and the same colorful hand-woven plakhta.
The interior of local housing was also very typical for Left-Bank Ukraine. Traditionally, in the corner near the entrance door you could see a stove, and in the opposite corner - a "shelf", a small open cupboard for dishes. Under the windows in the main wall, opposite the stove - in the most illuminated place of the hut - there was a wide heavy bench. A cone with yarn was installed on it. So sitting on the bench you could sew and embroider, and on holidays important guests were seated on it.
Interior of Ukrainian housing, Poltava region, village of Pokrovska Bagachka
The interior of the Poltava house had a characteristic detail - a transverse ceiling beam: it connected two opposite long walls of the house, architecturally there was no connection with the longitudinal beams that carried the main load. The ceiling was thus divided crosswise by these beams, and they were not whitewashed, like all other parts of the interior, but were decorated with contour, sometimes triangular carvings. This carving contained cult amulets (cross, circle, etc.), sometimes information about the date of construction of the building or the owner's surname. Traditionally, it was believed that these symbols contributed to the well-being of the house and protected the family from external hostile forces. A detail of the Poltava interior, such as the shape of the stove chimney, was also characteristic of the Left Bank. The stove was closed by walls, and the chimney did not hang over the stove, but stood on it.
Above the doors and windows, shelves were attached, supported by brackets. They were also decorated with carvings, profiled, and this was very typical for the local interior. The brackets had ends in the shape of a horse's head, for which they were called "horseshoes". "Horseshoes" had an additional function - they were pegs on which the pride of the housewives, mothers and daughters - fabrics or Poltava towels embroidered with tambour stitch by skillful hands - were hung. Accordingly, festive decorative towels that decorated the walls of the house on holidays were called "pegs", in contrast to applied or ritual towels.
Kyiv region. Late 19th - early 20th centuries.
Traditional residential complex, village of Dobrovody, modern Cherkasy region, Uman district
But the interior of the Kyiv region was quite typical for Right-Bank Ukraine: the stove was located in the Kyiv dwelling in the corner near the entrance, with the opening facing the windows of the supporting wall of the house. The "shelf" - an open cupboard for dishes - was in the opposite corner, near the door, and displayed ceramic painted dishes. Opposite the stove, near the main wall under the windows, there was a bench - a wide board, firmly resting on pillars dug into the ground. The shape of the stove, or rather, its smoke exhaust device, which hung over the stove, was also characteristic of the interior of the dwelling of the right-bank regions of the Dnieper.
Interior of a traditional dwelling, Kamyanka, modern Cherkasy region, former village of Kamyanka, Kyiv province
The interior of Kyiv housing was richly painted. Mineral (in particular clay) and vegetable paints were diluted with water and used for picturesque paintings. The tools were small brushes made of cat hair. If large elements were painted, then rags were used as stamps: they were used to apply colored spots, peculiar flowers. Then they were painted along the edge with brushes, for a more subtle and detailed image, twigs, leaves and the lower elements of these flower compositions were painted - pots, "smoothies".
Interior of a house, Dobrovody village, Cherkasy region
On the walls of houses in the Kyiv region, decorative painting was dominated by compositions of the flowerpot type - a large flowering plant grew out of a pot (they were also called "gladushchik"). The longitudinal profiled chimney struts or ceiling beams were usually decorated with an "endless", that is, a wavy line with evenly spaced colored dots on both sides (otherwise "dots", "flowers", "grapes", "leaves", etc.). These painted compositions and the local folk costume were organically combined in color.
Slobozhanshchyna. Late 19th - early 20th centuries.
Traditional for the buildings of Sloboda Ukraine, bordering Russia, was the placement of the house, close to the street and facing the visible facade towards the southeast. The buildings in the yard were placed freely. In front of the building itself, a small protected area was allocated for planting flowers, trees, bushes. And the clean yard in front of the house was separated by a wicker fence from the part of the yard where the outbuildings were located.
Residential complex, village of Novokhtyrka, Luhansk region
The Slobozhansky house was characterized by proportionality in the ratio of the height of the streamlined shape of the thatched roof and walls. The walls of the house were chopped, or vertical, with willow or oak splits. They were placed on "foundations", which rose high above the ground, and were covered with a thick layer of clay on the outside and whitewashed with chalk. The blue walls quite often went beyond the line of the walls of the house, to the level of the canopy, and, as a rule, remained open and not whitewashed.
The roof overhung the walls widely and was supported by spandrels placed on cross beams, the so-called "podostreshiny", "podstroshniky". They, in turn, were supported by columns - "sishki". The purlins were skillfully outlined with a carved border, the external parts of the beams ("darmovysy"), the upper crowns of the log house ("oshchepy") were decorated with profile carvings. The windows were also decorated: the shutters and platbands (window frames with carvings) were painted with oil paints or colored clays, usually shades of ocher, decorated with plant (floral) ornaments, colorful floral patterns ("roses", "peonies" ...). The same applied to the doors.
The color of the house in Slobozhanshchyna organically intertwined with the festive women's folk costume - a mottled plakhta, embroidery, a colorful apron in red colors, red boots and a corset.
Southern Ukraine. Late 19th - early 20th century.
The regions of southern Ukraine are characterized by their own peculiarities of the architecture of residential buildings. Thus, the placement of houses and outbuildings in a row, in the courtyard of the estate, was indicative. The walls of the building, smeared with clay, cleanly whitened, were often decorated with artistic paintings. The prizba, the walls of outbuildings, were covered with clay. The painted ornaments contained motifs of a large juicy flower with a central vertical axis, and sprouts covered with young leaves and smaller flowers were depicted on the sides. Painting or a colored strip decorated the doors and windows of the building.
Residential complex, Antonivka village, Dniprovsky district, Kherson city, former Kindiyka village, Kherson province
The roofs of buildings in the southern regions, low and gabled, were covered with straw or reeds, and were pressed down on top with double wooden trusses ("klyuchyn"). Local natural stone was most often used to build the walls of the courtyard's utility rooms.
Clay and its colors in wall paintings were mixed with blue and red dye, which gave them even greater picturesqueness.
The exterior decoration of the house and buildings echoed the colors of the festive traditional attire of the women of this area.
Interior of a house, Petrykivka village, Dnipropetrovsk region
The interior of the premises of the southern regions of the Left Bank of Ukraine reflects the inherited classical traditional methods of locating the stove - in the corner near the entrance door, the cupboard - in the opposite corner, and the benches - under the windows of the supporting wall of the hut. The difference is manifested in the shape of the stove pipe: the stove has a "pripychok" - a small protrusion on the stove, which was covered by the walls, on which they lay. In the Petrykivka hut there were paintings on the ceiling, the raised part of the wall, and a special variety of ornaments was on the chimney of the stove. The compositional structure of the local interior of the early 20th century naturally included elements of classical architecture: cornices, columns, decorative figured arches. The cornices were decorated with picturesque floral ornaments - "runners", "sliders", sometimes colored stripes. The surfaces between the columns were filled with "vases", "twigs", "bouquets", "flowers". Interesting were the homemade tools that the craftsmen used to decorate surfaces: pieces of fabric ("vikhtya"), brushes (the so-called "kitty brush" - cat fur gathered in a bundle, tied with a thread to the handle), a stalk of cattail cut diagonally. With all this treasure, the Petrykivka craftsmen painted luxurious floral and ornamental compositions that decorated houses inside and out.
Paints were prepared at home - from herbs, leaves, berries. Natural dyes were used, for example, colored clays, ochre, chalk, and soot.
Petrykivka painting has been very popular since ancient times. The most talented craftsmen were invited to other villages to paint houses. Even their "paintings" - paintings on paper - were very highly valued, not to mention the houses themselves. The richness of colors in interior decoration passed into the colorfulness of folk costumes.
Traditional interior of a house, Dnipropetrovsk region, village of Mishuryn Rih
The all-Ukrainian tradition of placing the stove in the corner from the entrance door was reflected in the interior of residential premises in the southern regions of Ukraine. The cupboard for dishes was located in the opposite corner, and the bench was located near the window of the main wall of the house. The difference in the interiors of the right-bank and left-bank regions of the Dnieper was mainly in the shape of the stove pipe. For example, on the Right Bank, the stove had a closed "firebox", and above it, on small pillars (or without them, at the discretion of the owner), a fireplace hung, which had the shape of a truncated pyramid. The chimney had sloping walls, with a profiled finish at the bottom and top, which looks like several rods.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the oven for cooking naidkiv was improved with another attached oven ("grouba"). The task of this oven was to heat the house. This architectural complex, the "oven-grouba", was essentially a continuation of the traditions of all regions of Ukraine. The grouba was decorated with wall paintings. Its decorative and functional elements were further combined with the ornamental painting of the oven for cooking naidkiv.
In the houses of Right-Bank Ukraine, floral ornamentation, of the vase type, made with juicy red flowers, took root well. In addition, painting was also used to decorate walls, ceilings, and windows.
Podillia. Late 19th - early 20th centuries.
But Podillia was free in the planning of the yard. A residential building was built in the depths, not far from the street, while outbuildings were built in a secluded part of the estate ("byysty").
Residential complex, Khmelnytskyi region, village of Tsybulivka
A significant architectural and artistic feature of residential architectural construction in Podol was picturesqueness. The buildings of the southern regions of Transnistrian Podillya, on the border with Moldova, especially proved themselves in decorativeness. The height of the thatched roof was twice the height of the walls of the building, but the richness of color in the wall painting, emphasized by the white background, balanced the dimensions. The roof was hemmed with straw sheaves, and the methods of their laying were a man-made miracle performed by Podolian craftsmen. Skillfully laid out, literally embroidered with sheaves, "brushes" at the corners of the steep roof were crowned with a ridge formed by wooden horizontal bars.
The creative output of Podolsk craftsmen includes impressive color combinations in painted wall compositions. They used exclusively colored clays and dyes, and the tools were simple and easy to make - homemade brushes, rags, root vegetable stamps, etc.
A special place in the soul of the Podolsk woman was occupied by ornamental stripes, which encircled the porch and the wall of the first floor; under the roofs, in the corners of the walls and in the edging of the windows, compositions were created in the form of the same garlands, runners, flowers outside the pattern, and colorful figures. The lower part of the wall, above the yellow pediment, was decorated with ornamental stripes. Also, outbuildings were decorated with decorative painting: chicken coops, barns.
The rather modest colors of folk women's clothing contrasted sharply with the rich variety of colors of the home decor: a white shirt embroidered with black and red threads in a "lowland" ("nizzyu") pattern, a black "humpback" with a colored stripe.
Interior of a house, Vinnytsia region, village of Skazyntsi
The arrangement of the main parts of the residential building - the hut - of the inhabitants of Podillia was absolutely typical and characteristic of most of Ukraine. The kitchen stove was located in the corner, between the inner wall - the hall - and the outer walls of the building near the entrance. Near the stove, boards were laid on small columns - this was a sleeping place ("floor").
The features of Podolsk home decoration were considered to be skillfully decorated architectural structures and their elements, as well as household utensils.
The interior of the houses was generously decorated with colorful wall paintings, to which Podolsk women were so fond. A special place in the painting was occupied by the decoration of the stove. It was painted with colored clay all over - profile cornices, chimney, even the shutter. The walls and windows were decorated with paintings. Special beauty and festivity were created due to the bowls displayed in the cabinet, painted on a white and yellow-ocher background, and paper decorations - "vytinanka", which were attached to the beam.
The interior was given completeness, completeness and multicolor by woven rugs covering the beds, long rugs with colored stripes ("nalavnyki"), red-black embroidery on the shirt and a black "humpback" woven in the same colored stripe.
Polissya. Late 19th - early 20th century.
Residential complex, Rivne region, village of Svaritsevichi
In Volyn Polissya, the courtyard was built in two rows. Outbuildings under one common roof, having common walls, were stretched out in a row parallel to the residential building. The building itself was oriented towards the sun, and either approached the street with a facade, long or short, or was located in the depths of the courtyard in a second row. Such an architectural and spatial composition is characterized by the large-scale graphicity of the contours of the gable roofs, one or possibly different levels. The roofs are covered with wooden "slats" ("dranytsia"). The entire architectural complex is quite modestly decorated, designed in silver-gray colors. But the variety and richness of the motifs of the contour carving of the vertical ends and gables of the gable roofs of the buildings is impressive.
The richness of contrasting colors is characteristic of the traditional women's costume of this region, and its integral part was the headdress "namitka", characteristic of married women.
Interior of a house, Rivne region, village of Svaritsevichi
Even before the beginning of the 20th century, quite a few archaic interior elements remained in the remote areas of Volyn Polissya. Following the Ukrainian tradition of placing the stove, it was placed in a corner, near the entrance, near the door, an open cupboard for dishes ("mysnyk") in the opposite corner, a bench under the windows on the main wall. The sleeping place ("pil") was located near the stove itself, along the back wall, and a pipe was hung above it. In the huts of the region, you can still find a special smoke exhaust device ("posvyt"), which was mounted under the ceiling opening, above the chimney. The shape of the stove ("kurna pich") can also be called an archaic element: smoke fell directly into the room, so the walls were constantly covered with soot and, accordingly, were not decorated. Dark, "smoky" ceramic dishes ("pots", "gladushchyky", "jugs") were also made in the same style. Archaic simplicity was also observed in wooden household items - tools of labor, other dishes and utensils.
The bright spots of the women's festive costume stood out in contrast to the dark log walls of the houses: a bright white shirt with an ornament embroidered on the fabric, a headdress - a "namitka", a gathered skirt in a horizontal stripe.
Boykivshchyna. Late 19th - early 20th centuries.
A separate ethnographic group of the Ukrainian people are the Boykos and Lemkos. The architecture of their houses and structures is characterized by the combination under one roof with four slopes of a residential building with a number of outbuildings: a shed, a stable, a barn, a storeroom. But among the Boykos, unlike the elongated Lemko hut, the residential part occupied not the extreme, but the middle place in this structure, and on the front, frontal, wall there were windows, usually two or three. Along the rear and side walls under the roof were outbuildings.
Residential complex, Zakarpattia region, Verkhni Vorota village
The height of the steep, four-pitched roof was more than three times the height of the walls, but was proportionally balanced by the elongated front facade. The rhythm of the horizontal line was set by the roof - from the ridge it was continued by the crowns ("obapoly") of the log wall, the line of the floor of the open gallery raised above the ground ("bridge", "peredvina", "benches", "pristinki").
A distinctive feature of the architecture of the Boyko-Verkhovyna residential buildings was the simplicity and conciseness of forms, a minimum of decorative elements. But Hutsul houses were famous for them.
The traditional costumes of the Boykos were also adjusted to the color scheme. Some archaic elements were preserved for a long time, for example, a long woolen cape ("gunya") or a specific headdress for married women ("namytka").
Lemko Region. Late 19th - early 20th centuries.
The Lemkos, like the Boykos, are a separate ethnographic group of the Ukrainian people. Their architectural structures were characterized by a single-row combination of both residential premises and outbuildings (halls, barns, stables, etc.) under a common four-pitched roof. The residential part was usually placed first in a row of buildings. Further along the rear walls, under a single roof, were outbuildings.
Residential complex, Transcarpathian region, Vyshka village
If we consider the ratio of the main parts of the Lemko house and its proportions, we can see the predominance of a four-pitched, steep roof, covered with straw on top. In addition to straw, wood was also used for covering or a combination of these two materials: the lower rows were covered with wood, the rest with straw. But only wealthy peasants could afford it. In proportions, the height of the roof was three times or more higher than the height of the walls. But it was she who balanced the length of the structures, softened the perception of this monumental, bulky complex, making it more compact.
In addition to the carvings common in the Carpathians, the Lemko dwellings were decorated with whitewash, slightly blued with lime in the seams between the crowns of the log house, previously smeared with clay.
It is characteristic that only here, in the Lemko region, was the painting of silver walls, as well as some architectural details (doors, gates) with white, sometimes greenish-yellow clay widespread. Examining the plots of linear-graphic painting, ornaments and compositions, one can notice their decorative-figurative perception of the beauty of the surrounding world.
The lace paintings of the log cabins emphasized Lemko clothing, with a predominance of white and blue colors, with textured small folds, and the decoration of aprons and skirts with colored ribbons.
Interior of a house, Transcarpathian region, village of Kostryna
The distribution of the main parts of the Lemko interior is traditional. In the corner, between the wall of the hall and the back of the house, near the door, a stove for cooking was built. A bed was placed along the back wall, and a bench and table were placed near the windows of the short side wall.
The interior of the dwelling differed due to the direction of the openings ("jaws") of the stove, where food was cooked. In contrast to the Ukrainian tradition of directing the openings to the front wall, in Lemko huts the openings were oriented to the side wall. This state of affairs also determined other features of the interior of their houses. The bed was located at some distance from the stove, not right next to it, although its place was traditional - near the back wall. A window was made in the back wall of the building, and the light through it illuminated the free working area in front of the stove. A hanging fireplace also acquired a specific elongated shape, above the bench in front of the openings ("tsivka").
The most honorable place in the house was considered to be the place near the table ("chair"), covered with a tablecloth ("tablecloth"). Small portable benches were placed on the short sides of the table.
In the upper part of the side wall, which had two windows, there were images ("gods"), as well as decorative bright plates and paintings made with a blue-red floral pattern on a white background. White and blue, the traditional colors of the Lemko costume, went well with the restrained decoration of the premises.
Hutsul region. Late 19th - early 20th centuries.
The Hutsuls preferred to build their buildings on the flattest plots of land on the southern slopes of the mountains. Their estates stood at some distance from each other, and they combined both residential premises and outbuildings. The residential part ("hut") in Hutsul architecture was located on the edge, on the south side, and was surrounded on all sides by outbuildings ("shelters"), which created the unity of the buildings and provided protection for the residential building. In general, the whole composition looked like an impregnable fortress.
Residential complex. Ivano-Frankivsk region, Kosmach village
The climate dictated its conditions in the construction of buildings. Thus, frequent and significant precipitation led to the construction of steep, high, four-pitched roofs with deep eaves. Below, a platform was laid out, raised above the ground ("benches"), on which household work was carried out in bad weather.
Traditionally, the basis of Hutsul huts was wood as a building material. Each house was unique due to the skillfully executed carving of its architectural and structural elements - jambs, fence details, log house protrusions, cornice beams, open gallery pillars.
The uniformity of the use of building materials and the decorative design of the house contrasted with the bright, saturated orange color of the Hutsul traditional costume, and it combined various materials: wool, linen, leather, wood, and metal.
Interior of a house, Ivano-Frankivsk region, village of Kosmach
The distribution and placement of the main parts of the Hutsul hut is similar to other regions of Ukraine. For example, the placement of the stove for cooking snacks in the corner between the door and the back walls of the house near the door is also typical of the Hutsul interior. The direction of the stove opening, where all the food was actually prepared and bread was baked, was also traditional - the opening was usually directed towards the front wall. In addition, the shape itself was the same for all buildings in the right-bank regions.
A bed with a pole and a cradle were placed near the stove, along the back wall of the house, in the corner, between the porches and the main walls - a cupboard for dishes, under the windows - benches. All this was also a traditional interior arrangement.
But the decorative and artistic means of interior decoration of the Hutsul hut, the variety of color combinations is simply amazing. Everything in this house, every element of it - the stove, poles, beams, costumes, a cupboard for dishes, household utensils - indicated the incredible working capacity of the Hutsuls, their craving for ornamentation, their fascination with multi-colored and multi-textured combinations. Wealthier owners decorated their stoves with purchased painted tiles. The plot-ornamental composition of each tile is an artistically processed fragment of ordinary life, the traditional life of the Hutsuls: family and calendar holidays, artistic crafts, religious buildings, symbolic images and much more.
The role of the amulet was played by the carved ornamental decor that adorned the beam, the entrance door, and the furniture. As the Hutsul traditions said, objects decorated with appropriate ornamental elements and compositions were imbued with magical power that could protect people and families from external negative influences, and contributed to the growth of well-being and prosperity.
The Hutsul costume combined the warm brown tones of homespun household linen ("veret") with the bright yellow warm colors of spare fabrics ("pilku"), embroidered shirts, and leather and fur applique clothing.
Write a comment