Wooden houses of White Russia

If you visit Moscow, St. Petersburg or any other Russian city and on your stroll through the old neighborhoods, you will discover real architectural gems. These are traditional Russian wooden houses built in the 18th, 19th or early 20th century. Their condition contrasts starkly with the grand monuments and museums that are promoted and visited. In contrast to these, which are carefully maintained, wooden houses are covered in the haze of oblivion and slowly left to die.

Forgotten houses replaced by apartments without personality

In the former Soviet Union, as in our country, the need for living space was solved from the 1950s onwards by building blocks of tiny apartments, identical concrete boxes in which whole families lived. Neighborhoods of gray apartment blocks, totally devoid of personality, sprang up in all cities. Architectural creativity was left to one side, and the blocks were reproduced identically in every city.

I am reminded of a very funny Soviet comedy I saw years ago. A guy gets drunk at the airport and instead of taking the plane to Moscow, he takes the one to Leningrad. From the airport he takes a taxi with the Moscow address and ends up in a neighborhood identical to the one he lived in, in a block of flats identical to his own, and in a studio furnished exactly like his own. And the key matched. If I tell you that there was a single girl living in the apartment, like him, you can continue the story without my help. 😊

Unfortunately, the situation of traditional Russian houses is nowhere near as easy as the above story. I can say quite the opposite. Dilapidated and neglected, uninspiringly repaired with cheap materials, wooden houses are disappearing day by day. And with them, a unique style.

Small works of art with lots of wood embroidery

The wooden houses are true works of art, unique in style and were built by craftsmen in the specific style of the area where they or the owner of the house came from. They are adorned around the doors and windows, under the eaves, on the roof or on the veranda with ornaments carved in wood. These ornaments contain symbols that go far back in time to pre-Christian times. The symbols are mostly found around doors and windows - the entry ways of spirits - and protect the house from evil spirits, bring well-being, ensure rich harvests and good weather. The same symbols are also found inside, on the central beam supporting the house.

The decorations of the older houses, built in the 18th and early 19th centuries, contain simple symbols with a central axis representing crosses, triangles or stars. Houses built during the development of the woodworking industry, with the advent of mechanized tools, have more complex, elaborate symbols. Unfortunately, hundreds of years of symbolism are lost or the meaning becomes blurred. In the Soviet period, when population displacement from one area to another was a common practice, the migration of craftsmen meant that the purity of the symbols of each region was no longer preserved, and they blended together and became blurred in their message.

Although they are part of Russian history and architecture, wooden houses are left to die far from the visited and promoted centers of big cities. Unfortunately, such a trend exists here too, where more and more old houses, steeped in history, traditions and memories, are being demolished and in their place cold and impersonal glass buildings are springing up.