Zprávy památkové péče 2016, 76(2):180-193

Timbered granary house near Boskovice and its heritage protection

Jiří Pokorný

Near the town of Boskovice in northwestern Moravia, several timbered granary-type agricultural houses have survived to this day. Around Boskovice, this type of house is characteristically positioned with its eaves side to the municipal (village green or street) area. Typologically speaking, this is an archaic variant of a tripartite house layout with an upper-floor chamber in the third part, typical for the Middle Ages and early modern period. This tripartite layout may be more complex with an additional functional articulation, as evidenced by archaeological excavations of extinct medieval Czech villages and by the last standing examples of these buildings in the Czech Republic.
The article primarily outlines the monument protection of the granary house near Boskovice from the early registration of these cultural monuments from the late 1950s to the present. It briefly describes the individual protected buildings, including some previously protected and no longer existing. Some buildings, still unprotected, and their valuable timber parts are also described. Given the already small number of surviving granary houses around Boskovice that hold links to their medieval and early modern architectural traditions, their historical architectural documentation is important. With the extinction of several valuable monuments in the second half of the 20th century, despite their earlier heritage protection, it appears necessary to extend such protection to other standing and identified buildings that represent significant comparative material of national importance.
One of the most valuable timbered granary buildings near Boskovice is the hitherto unprotected homestead in Šebetov, composed of the main farm residential building, no. 38, and the former cottage with today's building, no. 113. The high degree of preservation of the timber construction, the layout, and the vertical articulation of the entire structure conceals a first-category heritage monument. Dendrochronological dating of the timber structures also suggests that today's no. 113 was built in 1541 as a separate two-storey chamber - a granary, which was until probably adapted into a residence in the early 19th century. The entire homestead thus represents one of the oldest and very well-preserved agricultural units of this type in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: timber house of the late medieval period and early modern times; single-storey chamber; granary; ethnographic subregion of Malá Hana; Moravia; heritage protection

Published: June 1, 2016  Show citation