Interesting question!

It's simple - building from wood was more economical, faster and easier. In harsh winter conditions it is also warmer. But such an answer will seem too short, are you interested in knowing the reasons for the reasons?

1. Tree in Kievan Rus was almost everywhere, whereas stone was more difficult to find. There are many types of stone - diabase, granite, limestone and sandstone, tuff and so on. They are sedimentary (sandstone, shell rock - on the surface), igneous (lava poured out and solidified) and metamorphic (lava lay for a long time and was pressed, these are slates, marble and other stones with stains)

But some rocks are either too hard, others are too crumbly. The funny thing is that Kyiv, Veliky Novgorod, Pskov and other cities are located on plains. Where do fractures in the earth's crust and hard rocks come from? There are also no volcanoes and, accordingly, “beautiful” rocks with stains.

Even the only type of limestone (white stone) used in the construction of temples was saved. Made two rows of white stone, and the space between them was filled with rubble - ordinary stone mixed with clay and sand.

2. Cold. Yes, it is simply cold in a stone house without an appropriate heating system. Wood has lower thermal conductivity. In general, the more porous and fibrous the material, the “warmer” it is. In order not to freeze in winter, you need either a wall made of logs 40 cm in diameter, or 2 meters thick stone wall. (very rude)

What is more economical - felling a couple of trees and cutting down a house in one summer, or cutting out stone and laying thick walls over several years? I think this is obvious.

3. Development of technology and social life.

Many people don't want to believe it, but we were outsiders during the 10th to 17th centuries. The first universities appeared in Italy and France in the 11th century. Trade routes to China and America were established by Portugal and Spain in the 16th century. Buildings of gigantic height and power were also built in the west already in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The development of stone house-building and architecture in Rus' in general was greatly slowed down by civil strife (11-12 centuries), then invasions and capture by the Ig (12-15). then there were foreign interventions in Time of Troubles(16). Out of the frying pan into the fire. There were no schools - God forbid, there were no universities. The skill was passed down strictly by word of mouth and by inheritance.

Even the war with Napoleon. The turning point occurred due to severe weather conditions and a couple of tricky moves! The army of little France was better organized and almost captured almost all of Europe at that time! So our troops bravely left Moscow to burn. To be fair, it was rebuilt according to the new regulations “on stone house construction” and was greatly improved. Maybe it's good that it burned down.

4. Traditions. It’s like asking the Japanese, “why are your houses made of wood and paper”? The feasibility of wooden buildings outweighed the disadvantages at that time. And the mastery of wooden buildings accumulated.

What I don’t understand is why we didn’t build with brick. An obvious solution in the face of a shortage of natural stone. A lot of brick was built in Northern Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Even in the Middle Ages. Maybe it was bad to pick in the clay in winter? I don’t understand when they missed this moment? The Church of Sophia in Kyiv was built from brick. And then they went back to the stone and tree.

The first person to think about brick was “Aleviz the Old”, invited from Italy - aka Aloisio da Caresano (or Aloisio - Milanese). He organized the production of bricks in Moscow, from which the walls of the new Kremlin were built. Because it’s easier than cutting blocks and transporting them from afar, and the strength of the masonry is not inferior natural stone. Now we are very proud of Red Square, and this is Italian architecture.

Overall, what can I say. Building with wood was cheaper, faster and warmer. The social structure was not sufficiently developed for a city hall or chambers of commerce at that time. The elders gathered in the fortress or traded in the market.

In northern Rus', houses were always built of wood, and not because they did not know how to build stone ones, but because a wooden house is warmer, the microclimate in it is better than in a stone one, and because there was enough forest in Rus'. It's all about the thermal conductivity of wood and stone. The tree at one end can burn (the temperature in this area will be about +300 degrees Celsius), and you can freely hold onto the other end of the log with your hand. This is impossible with a stone: if the stone is heated at one end to +200 degrees, then you will not be able to touch the other end. Brick is also not far from stone in terms of thermal conductivity.

If our ancestors lived in stone castles, like the Angles and Saxons, then you and I would not be in the world, since our ancestors in our climate would simply die - they would catch a cold and die out. Consequently, a wooden house is a condition of life in the Russian North. You can, of course, live in the north in a yaranga made of skins or in a tent, but then you will not be Russian, it will be a completely different culture. To live in a yaranga, it is necessary that the herd of deer (the source of skins) be very large - at least 30 deer per person.

So, Rus' is wooden houses, wooden architecture, wooden culture. It is no coincidence that we call our monetary unit the ruble wooden. In Rus', houses and ships, carts, plows, harrows, tubs, cups, spoons, toys were made from wood... god's temples They were also built from wood. It is no coincidence that carpentry and blacksmithing were considered the most honorable professions in Rus', and only in third place was the craft of potters - pottery.

IN different parts of our vast homeland have developed different styles wood construction. In my previous articles, I showed that the Great Russian ethnic group was formed in the XIV-XVII centuries from several “parent” ethnic groups - the Varangians of Rus', Slovenes, Krivichi, Ugrofins (Merya, Ves, Kostroma, etc.). Each of these ethnic groups probably had its own way of building houses, its own tradition. Folk traditions very stable: they, like language, are preserved for centuries and even millennia. Traditions are what unites generations of people into one people, into one ethnic group. In some cases, traditions are determined by the peculiarities of the climate and topography of the country of residence, and in some cases they are simply a manifestation of fashion, habit, and are not directly related to living conditions.

The main tool of labor in Rus' for the ancient architect was an ax. Saws became known around the end of the 10th century and were used only in carpentry when interior work Oh. The fact is that the saw tears the wood fibers during operation, leaving them open to water. The ax, crushing the fibers, seems to seal the ends of the logs. No wonder they still say: “cut down a hut.” And, well known to us now, they tried not to use nails. After all, around a nail, the wood begins to rot faster. As a last resort, they used wooden crutches, which modern carpenters call “dowels.”

Foundation and fastening of a wooden structure

And in ancient Rus' and in modern Russia The basis of a wooden house or bathhouse has always been and is a log house. A log house is logs fastened (“tied”) together into a quadrangle. Each row of logs in a log house, fastened together, was (and is) called a “crown.” The first row of logs that rests on the foundation is called the “uterine crown.” The uterine crown was often placed on stone shafts - a kind of foundation, which was called “ryazh”; such a foundation did not allow the house to come into contact with the ground, i.e. The log house lasted longer and did not rot.

Log houses differed from each other in the type of fastening. For outbuildings, a log house was used “cut” (rarely laid). The logs here were not stacked tightly, but in pairs on top of each other, and often were not fastened at all.

When the logs were fastened “into a paw”, their ends did not extend beyond the walls to the outside, the corners of the log house were even. This method of cutting corners has been preserved by carpenters to this day. But it is usually used if the house will be sheathed with something on the outside (lining, siding, blockhouse, etc.) and the corners are tightly insulated, because this method of cutting corners has a slight drawback - they retain heat less than corners “ into the bowl."

Angles “into the bowl” (in the modern way) or “into the oblo” in the old fashioned way were considered the warmest and most reliable. With this method of fastening the walls, the logs extended beyond the wall and had a cross-shaped shape if you look at the frame from above. The strange name "oblo" comes from the word "obolon" ("oblon"), meaning the outer layers of a tree (cf. "to envelop, envelop, shell"). Back at the beginning of the 20th century. they said: “cut the hut into Obolon” ​​if they wanted to emphasize that inside the hut the logs of the walls were not crowded together. However, more often the outside of the logs remained round, while inside the huts they were hewn to a plane - “scraped into lass” (a smooth strip was called las). Now the term “burst” refers more to the ends of the logs protruding outward from the wall, which remain round, with a chip.

The rows of logs themselves (crowns) were connected to each other using internal spikes. Moss was laid between the crowns in the log house and after the final assembly of the log house, the cracks were caulked with flax tow. Attics were often filled with the same moss to preserve heat in winter. I will write about red moss - inter-crown insulation - later, in another article.

In plan, the log houses were made in the form of a quadrangle (“chetverik”), or in the form of an octagon (“octagon”). From several adjacent quadrangles, huts were mainly made, and octagons were used for the construction of wooden churches (after all, an octagon allows you to increase the area of ​​​​the room almost six times without changing the length of the logs). Often, by placing quadrangles and octets on top of each other, the ancient Russian architect built the pyramidal structure of a church or rich mansions.

Simple indoor rectangular wooden frame without any extensions it was called a “cage”. "Cage by cage, lead by story", - they said in the old days, trying to emphasize the reliability of the log house in comparison with the open canopy - povet. Usually the log house was placed on the “basement” - the lower auxiliary floor, which was used for storing supplies and household equipment. And the upper crowns of the log house expanded upward, forming a cornice - a “fall”. This interesting word, derived from the verb “to fall,” was often used in Rus'. So, for example, “povalusha” was the name given to the upper, cold common bedrooms in a house or mansion, where the whole family went to sleep (to lie down) in the summer from a heated hut.

The doors in the cage were made lower, and the windows were placed higher, retaining more heat in the hut. Both the house and the temple were built in the same way - both were the house (of man and of god). Therefore, the simplest and most ancient form of a wooden temple, like a house, was the “kletskaya”. This is how churches and chapels were built. These are two or three log buildings connected to each other from west to east. There were three log cabins in the church (the refectory, the temple and the altar), and two in the chapel (the refectory and the temple). Over simple gable roof they erected a modest dome.

Small chapels were erected in large numbers in remote villages, at crossroads, above large stone crosses, above springs. There is no priest in the chapel; no altar was made here. And the services were performed by the peasants themselves, who baptized and performed funeral services themselves. Such unpretentious services, held like the first Christians with singing short prayers in the first, third, sixth and ninth hours after sunrise, were called “hours” in Rus'. This is where the building itself got its name. Both the state and the church looked upon such chapels with disdain. That’s why the builders here could give free rein to their imagination. That is why these modest chapels amaze the modern city dweller today with their extreme simplicity, sophistication and special atmosphere of Russian solitude.

Roof

In ancient times, the roof over the log house was built without nails - “male”.

To complete this, the two end walls were made from decreasing stumps of logs, which were called “males.” Long longitudinal poles were placed on them in steps - “dolniki”, “lay down” (cf. “lay down, lie down”). Sometimes, however, the ends of the legs cut into the walls were also called males. One way or another, the entire roof got its name from them.

Thin tree trunks, cut down from one of the branches of the root, were cut into the beds from top to bottom. Such trunks with roots were called “chickens” (apparently due to the resemblance of the left root to a chicken paw). These upward-pointing root branches supported a hollowed-out log—the “stream.” It collected water flowing from the roof. And they laid them on top of the chickens and laid them down wide boards roofs resting with their lower edges on a hollowed-out flow groove. The upper joint of the boards - the “ridge” (as it is called to this day) - was especially carefully blocked from rain. A thick “ridge ridge” was laid under it, and on top the joint of the boards, like a cap, was covered with a log hollowed out from below - a “shell” or “skull”. However, more often this log was called “ohlupnem” - something that covers.

What they used to cover the roof of wooden huts in Rus'! Then the straw was tied into sheaves (bundles) and laid along the slope of the roof, pressing with poles; Then they split aspen logs onto planks (shingles) and covered the hut with them, like scales, in several layers. And in ancient times they even covered it with turf, turning it upside down and laying it under birch bark.

The most expensive covering was considered “tes” (boards). The word “tes” itself well reflects the process of its manufacture. A smooth, knot-free log was split lengthwise in several places and wedges were driven into the cracks. The log split in this way was split lengthwise several more times. The unevenness of the resulting wide boards was trimmed with a special ax with a very wide blade.

The roof was usually covered in two layers - “undercut” and “red”. Bottom layer The planks on the roof were also called podskalnik, since it was often covered with “rock” (birch bark, which was chipped from birch trees) for tightness. Sometimes they installed a kinked roof. Then the lower, flatter part was called “police” (from the old word "gender"- half).

The entire pediment of the hut was importantly called “chelo” and was richly decorated with magical protective carvings. The outer ends of the roofing sheets were covered from rain long boards- "prichelinami". And the upper joint of the piers was covered with a patterned hanging board - a “towel”.

The roof is the most important part of a wooden building. "If only I had a roof over my head"- people still say. That is why, over time, its “top” became a symbol of any temple, house and even economic structure.

“Riding” in ancient times was the name for any completion. These tops, depending on the wealth of the building, could be very diverse. The simplest was the “cage” top - a simple gable roof on a cage. Temples were usually decorated with a “tent” top in the form of a high octagonal pyramid. The “cubic top”, reminiscent of a massive tetrahedral onion, was intricate. The towers were decorated with such a top. The “barrel” was quite difficult to work with - a gable roof with smooth curvilinear outlines, ending with a sharp ridge. But they also made a “crossed barrel” - two intersecting simple barrels. Tent churches, cube-shaped, tiered, multi-domed - all this is named after the completion of the temple, after its top.

However, most of all they loved the tent. When the scribal books indicated that the church "wooden on top", then this meant that it was tented.

Even after Nikon’s ban on tents in 1656, as demonic and paganism in architecture, they still continued to be built in the Northern Territory. And only in the four corners at the base of the tent small barrels with domes appeared. This technique was called a tent on a cross-barrel.

Particularly difficult times came for the wooden tent in the middle of the 19th century, when the government and the governing Synod set about eradicating schismatics. Northern “schismatic” architecture then also fell into disgrace. And yet, despite all the persecution, the “four-octagon-tent” shape remains typical for the ancient Russian wooden church. There are also octagons “from the ground” (from the ground) without a quadrangle, especially in bell towers. But these are already variations of the main type.

Traditions wooden house construction have survived to this day. On their suburban plots, townspeople are happy to build wooden houses and bathhouses with the help of craftsmen from the outback, from the provinces. In turn, in the outback people also continue to live in wooden houses, because there is no better home than a good, reliable, eco-friendly house made of wood. Do you want to build yourself a house from logs or timber? Contact us - or call: 8-903-899-98-51 (Beeline); 8-930-385-49-16 (Megafon).

Both the house and the chapel are all made of wood.

Rus' has long been considered a country of trees: there were plenty of vast, mighty forests around. The Russians, as historians note, lived for centuries in the “wooden age.” Frames and residential buildings, bathhouses and barns, bridges and fences, gates and wells were erected from wood. And the most common name for a Russian settlement - village - indicated that the houses and buildings here were wooden. Almost universal availability, simplicity and ease of processing, relative cheapness, strength, good thermal properties, as well as the rich artistic and expressive capabilities of wood have brought this natural material to the forefront in the construction of residential buildings. Not the least important role was played here by the fact that wooden buildings could be erected in a fairly short time. High-speed construction from wood in Rus' was generally highly developed, which indicates a high level of organization of carpentry. It is known, for example, that even churches, the largest buildings in Russian villages, were sometimes erected “in one day,” which is why they were called ordinary.

In addition, log houses could be easily dismantled, transported over a considerable distance and re-installed in a new location. In the cities there were even special markets where prefabricated log houses and entire wooden houses with all the interior decoration were sold “for export.” In winter, such houses were shipped straight off the sleigh in disassembled form, and assembly and caulking took no more than two days. By the way, everything you need building elements and parts of log houses were sold right there, on the market here you could buy pine logs for a residential log house (the so-called “mansion”), and beams hewn into four edges, and good-quality roofing boards, and various “dining” and “bench” boards , for lining the “inside” of the hut, as well as “crossbars”, piles, door blocks. There were also household items on the market, which usually filled the interior of a peasant hut: simple rustic furniture, tubs, boxes, small “wood chips” down to the smallest wooden spoon.

However, despite all the positive qualities of wood, one of its very serious drawbacks - susceptibility to rotting - made wooden structures relatively short-lived. Together with fires, the real scourge of wooden buildings, it significantly shortened the lifespan of log house- a rare hut stood for more than a hundred years. That is why the greatest use in housing construction has been found in coniferous species: pine and spruce, whose resinousness and density of wood provide the necessary resistance to decay. At the same time, in the North, larch was also used to build a house, and in a number of regions of Siberia, a log frame was assembled from durable and dense larch, but all interior decoration made from Siberian cedar.

And yet, the most common material for housing construction was pine, especially boreal pine or, as it was also called, “condovya.” The log made from it is heavy, straight, almost without knots and, according to the assurances of the master carpenters, “does not hold dampness.” In one of the contracts for the construction of housing, concluded in the old days between the owner-customer and the carpenters (and the word “order” comes from the ancient Russian “row” agreement), it was quite definitely emphasized: “... to carve the forest with pine, kind, vigorous , smooth, not knotty..."

Construction timber was usually harvested in winter or early spring, while “the tree is sleeping and excess water has gone into the ground,” while the logs can still be removed by sleigh. It is interesting that even now experts recommend logging for log houses in winter, when the wood is less susceptible to drying out, rotting and warping. The material for housing construction was prepared either by the future owners themselves, or by hired master carpenters in accordance with the necessary needs “as much as needed,” as noted in one of the orders. In the case of “self-procurement,” this was done with the involvement of relatives and neighbors. This custom, which has existed since ancient times in Russian villages, was called “help” (“toloka”). The whole village usually gathered for the cleanup. This is reflected in the proverb: “Whoever called for help, go yourself.”

They selected the trees very carefully, in a row, indiscriminately, did not cut them down, and took care of the forest. There was even such a sign: if you didn’t like the three trees you came to the forest with, don’t cut them at all that day. There were also specific bans on logging associated with folk beliefs. For example, cutting down trees in “sacred” groves, usually associated with a church or cemetery, was considered a sin; It was impossible to cut down old trees either - they had to die their own, natural death. In addition, trees grown by humans were not suitable for construction; a tree that fell during felling “at midnight”, that is, to the north, or hung in the crowns of other trees could not be used - it was believed that in such a house the residents would face serious troubles and illnesses and even death.

Logs for the construction of a log house were usually selected with a thickness of about eight vershoks in diameter (35 cm), and for the lower crowns of a log house - even thicker ones, up to ten vershoks (44 cm). Often the agreement stated: “not to set less than seven vershoks.” Let us note in passing that today the recommended diameter of a log for a chopped wall is 22 cm. The logs were taken to the village and placed in “fires”, where they lay until spring, after which the trunks were sanded, that is, they were removed, the thawed bark was scraped off using a plow or a long scraper, which was an arched blade with two handles.

Tools of Russian carpenters:

1 - woodcutter ax,
2 - sweat,
3 - carpenter's axe.

During processing scaffolding were used various types axes. Thus, when cutting down trees, a special wood-cutting ax with a narrow blade was used; in further work, a carpenter’s ax with a wide oval blade and the so-called “potes” were used. In general, owning an ax was mandatory for every peasant. “The ax is the head of the whole thing,” people said. Without the ax, wonderful monuments of folk architecture would not have been created: wooden churches, bell towers, mills, huts. Without this simple and universal tool, many peasant labor tools, details of rural life, and familiar household items would not have appeared. The ability to carpenter (that is, to “unite” logs in a building) from a ubiquitous and necessary craft in Rus' turned into a true art - carpentry.

In Russian chronicles we find not quite usual combinations- “cut down the church”, “cut down the mansions”. And carpenters were often called “cutters.” But the point here is that in the old days they did not build houses, but “cut them down” without a saw or nails. Although the saw has been known in Rus' since ancient times, it was not usually used in the construction of a house - sawn logs and boards absorb moisture much more quickly and easily than chopped and hewn ones. The master builders did not saw off, but cut off the ends of the logs with an ax, since sawn logs are “blown by the wind” - they crack, which means they collapse faster. In addition, when processed with an ax, the ends of the log seem to be “clogged” and rot less. The boards were made by hand from logs - notches were marked at the end of the log and along its entire length, wedges were driven into them and split into two halves, from which wide boards - “tesnitsy” - were hewn out. For this purpose, a special ax with a wide blade and a one-sided cut was used - “potes”. In general, carpentry tools were quite extensive - along with axes and staples, there were special “adzes” for selecting grooves, chisels and clearings for punching holes in logs and beams, and “lines” for drawing parallel lines.

When hiring carpenters to build a house, the owners stipulated in detail the most important requirements for the future construction, which were scrupulously noted in the contract. First of all, the necessary qualities of the scaffolding, its diameter, processing methods, as well as the timing of the start of construction were recorded here. Then a detailed description of the house that was to be built was given, the space-planning structure of the dwelling was highlighted, and the dimensions of the main premises were regulated. “Build me a new hut,” it is written in the old row, four fathoms without an elbow and with corners” - that is, about six and a quarter meters, chopped “into the oblo”, with the remainder. Since no drawings were made during the construction of the house, in the construction contracts the vertical dimensions of the dwelling and its individual parts were determined by the number of log crowns placed in the frame - “and there are twenty-three rows up to the hens.” The horizontal dimensions were regulated by the most commonly used long log - usually it was about three fathoms "between the corners" - about six and a half meters. Often the orders even provided information about individual architectural and structural elements and details: “to make doors on the jambs and windows on the jambs, as many as the owner orders to be made.” Sometimes samples, analogues, examples from the immediate surroundings were directly named, focusing on which the craftsmen had to do their work: “.. and make those upper rooms and the canopy, and the porch, like Ivan Olferev’s small upper rooms were made at the gate.” The entire document often ended with a disciplinary recommendation, instructing the craftsmen not to abandon the work until it is completely completed, not to postpone or delay the construction that had begun: “And not to leave until finishing that mansion.”

The beginning of the construction of a dwelling in Rus' was associated with certain deadlines regulated by special rules. It was considered best to begin building a house during Lent (early spring) and so that the construction process would include the Trinity holiday; remember the proverb: “Without the Trinity, a house is not built.” It was impossible to start construction on the so-called “hard days” - Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and also on Sunday. The time “when the month is full” after the new moon was considered favorable for starting construction.

The construction of the house was preceded by special and rather solemnly formalized rituals, in which the most important, earthly and celestial phenomena that were most significant for the peasant were reflected, in which the forces of nature acted in a symbolic form, and various “local” deities were present. According to an ancient custom, when laying the foundation of a house, money was placed in the corners “to live richly,” and inside the log house, in its middle or in the “red” corner, they placed a freshly cut tree (birch, mountain ash or fir-tree) and often hung an icon on it. This tree personified the “world tree”, known to almost all nations and ritually marking the “center of the world”, symbolizing the idea of ​​growth, development, connection between the past (roots), present (trunk) and future (crown). It remained in the log house until the construction was completed. Another interesting custom is associated with the designation of the corners of the future home: in the evening the owner poured four piles of grain into the supposed four corners of the hut, and if the next morning the grain turned out to be untouched, the place chosen for the construction of the house was considered good. If someone disturbed the grain, then they were usually careful not to build on such a “dubious” place.

Throughout the construction of the house, another custom, very ruinous for the future owners, was strictly observed, which, unfortunately, has not become a thing of the past and today quite frequent and plentiful “treats” for the master carpenters building the house, with the aim of “appeasing” them. The construction process was repeatedly interrupted by “handmade”, “filling”, “matika”, “rafter” and other feasts. Otherwise, the carpenters could be offended and do something wrong, or even just “play a joke” - lay out the log house in such a way that “there will be a buzzing in the walls.”

The structural basis of the log house was a log frame with a quadrangular plan, consisting of logs, “crowns,” laid horizontally on top of each other. An important feature of this design is that with its natural shrinkage and subsequent settlement, the gaps between the crowns disappeared, the wall became more dense and monolithic. To ensure the horizontality of the crowns of the log house, the logs were laid so that the butt ends alternated with the top ends, that is, thicker ones with thinner ones. To ensure that the crowns fit well together, a longitudinal groove was selected in each of the adjacent logs. In the old days, the groove was made in the lower log, on its upper side, but since with this solution water got into the recess and the log quickly rotted, they began to make the groove on the lower side of the log. This technique has survived to this day.

a - “in the oblo” with cups in the lower logs
b - “in the oblo” with cups in the upper logs

At the corners the log house was tied together with special notches, a kind of log “locks”. Experts say that the types and options of cuttings in Russian wooden architecture there were several dozen. The most commonly used were cuttings “in the cloud” and “in the paw”. When cutting “into the edge” (that is, roundly) or “into a simple corner,” the logs were joined in such a way that their ends protruded outward, beyond the boundaries of the log house, forming the so-called “remnant,” which is why this technique was also called cutting with the remainder. The protruding ends well protected the corners of the hut from freezing. This method, one of the most ancient, was also called cutting “into a bowl”, or “into a cup”, since special “cup” recesses were selected in them to fasten the logs together. In the old days, cups, like longitudinal grooves in logs, were cut out in the underlying log - this is the so-called “cutting into the lining”, but later they began to use a more rational method with cutting in the upper log “into the lining”, or “into the shell”, which is not allowed moisture to linger in the “castle” of the log house. Each cup was adjusted to the exact shape of the log with which it came into contact. This was necessary to ensure the tightness of the most important and most vulnerable to water and cold components of the log house - its corners.

Another common method of cutting “in the paw”, without leaving a trace, made it possible to increase the horizontal dimensions of the log house, and with them the area of ​​the hut, compared to cutting “in the claw”, since here the “lock” holding the crowns together was made at the very end of the log . However, it was more difficult to implement and required highly qualified carpenters, and therefore was more expensive than traditional cutting with the release of the ends of the “corner” logs. For this reason, and also because felling “in oblo” took less time, the vast majority of peasant houses in Russia were felled in this way.

The lower, “framed” crown was often placed directly on the ground. In order for this initial crown - the "lower" - to be less susceptible to rotting, and also in order to create a strong and reliable foundation for the house, thicker and more resinous logs were selected for it. For example, in Siberia, larch was used for the lower crowns - a very dense and fairly durable wood material.

Often, large stones-boulders were placed under the corners and middles of the mortgage crowns or cuttings of thick logs were dug into the ground - “chairs”, which were treated with resin or burned to protect them from rotting. Sometimes thick blocks or “paws” were used for this purpose - uprooted stumps placed down with their roots. When building a residential hut, they tried to lay the “flat” logs so that the lower crown was tightly adjacent to the ground, often “for warmth” it was even lightly sprinkled with earth. After completing the “hut frame” - laying the first crown, they began assembling the house “on moss”, in which the grooves of the log house, for greater tightness, were laid with “mokrishnik”, torn from the lowlands and dried with swamp moss - this was called “mossing” the log house. It happened that for greater strength, the moss was “twisted” with tows - combed out flax and hemp fibers. But since the moss still crumbled when it dried, at a later time they began to use tow for this purpose. And even now experts recommend caulking the seams between the logs of a log house with tow for the first time during the construction process and then again, after a year and a half, when the final shrinkage of the log house occurs.

Under the residential part of the house, they built either a low underground, or a so-called “basement” or “podzbitsa” - a basement that differed from the underground in that it was quite high, was not, as a rule, buried in the ground and had direct access to the outside through a low door. By placing the hut on the basement, the owner protected it from the cold coming from the ground, protected the living part and the entrance to the house from snow drifts in winter and floods in spring, and created additional utility and utility rooms directly under the housing. A storage room was usually located in the basement; it often served as a cellar. Other utility rooms were also equipped in the basement, for example, in areas where handicrafts were developed, a small workshop could be located in the basement. Small livestock or poultry were also kept in the basement. Sometimes the podyzbitsa was also used for housing. There were even two-story, or “two-living” huts with two “livings.” But still, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the basement was a non-residential, utility floor, and people lived in a dry and warm “upper,” raised above the cold, damp ground. This technique of placing the residential part of the house on a high basement is most widespread in the northern regions, where very harsh climatic conditions demanded additional insulation living quarters and reliable and insulated from the frozen ground, while in the middle zone they often built a low underground that was convenient for storing food.

Having completed the equipment of the basement or underground, work began on installing the floor of the hut. To do this, first of all, they cut “crossbars” into the walls of the house - quite powerful beams on which the floor rested. As a rule, they were made in four or less often three, placing two huts parallel to the main facade, two near the walls and two or one in the middle. To keep the floor warm and not drafty, it was made double. The so-called “black” floor was laid directly on the crossbars, assembled from a thick slab with the humps up, or a log roll, and covered “for warmth” with a layer of earth. A clean floor made of wide boards was laid on top.

Moreover, such a double, insulated floor was made, as a rule, above a cold basement-basement, under a hut, while a regular, single floor was installed above the underground, which facilitated the penetration of heat from the living space into the underground, where vegetables and various products were stored. The boards of the upper, “clean” floor were tightly fitted to each other.

Male roof design:

1 - ohlupen (shelom)
2 - towel (anemone)
3 - prichelina
4 - headband
5 - red window
6 - fiberglass window
7 - flow
8 - chicken
9 - slightly
10 – tes

Usually the floorboards were laid along the line of the window entrance, from front door into the living space to the main facade of the hut, explaining this by the fact that with this arrangement, the floor boards are less destroyed, less chipped at the edges and last longer than with a different layout. In addition, according to the peasants, such sex is more convenient than revenge.

The number of interfloor ceilings - “bridges” in the house being built was determined in detail: “... and in the same rooms, three bridges should be laid inside.” The laying of the walls of the hut was completed by installing at the height where they were going to make the ceiling of a “skull” or “pressure” crown, in which they cut ceiling beam- "matitsa". Its location was also often noted in regular notes: “and put that hut on the seventeenth matitsa.”

The strength and reliability of the base matrix - the base of the ceiling - was given great importance great value. People even said: “A thin uterus for everything means a collapse of the house.” The installation of the matrix was a very important point in the process of building a house; it completed the assembly of the log house, after which the construction entered the final phase of laying the floor and installing the roof. That is why the laying of the matitsa was accompanied by special rituals and another “matitsa” treat for the carpenters. Often the carpenters themselves reminded the “forgetful” owners of this: when installing the motherboard, they shouted: “the motherboard is cracking, it won’t go,” and the owners were forced to organize a feast. Sometimes, when raising the mother, they tied a pie baked for the occasion to it.

Matitsa was a powerful tetrahedral beam, on which thick boards or “humpbacks” were placed “ceiling”, placed flat down. In order to prevent the matrix from bending under the weight, its lower side was often cut along a curve. It is curious that this technique is still used today in the construction of log houses - this is called “hew out the building rise”. Having finished laying the ceiling - the “ceiling”, they tied the frame under the roof, laying “shallow” or “shallow” logs on top of the skull crown, with which the ceilings were secured.

In Russian folk housing, functional, practical and artistic issues were closely interconnected, one complemented and followed from the other. The fusion of “usefulness” and “beauty” in the house, the inseparability of constructive and architectural and artistic solutions were especially evident in the organization of the completion of the hut. By the way, it was in the completion of the house that folk craftsmen saw the main and fundamental beauty of the entire building. The design and decorative design of the roof of a peasant house still amazes today with the unity of practical and aesthetic aspects.

The design of the so-called nailless male roof is surprisingly simple, logical and artistically expressive - one of the most ancient, most widely used in the northern regions of Russia. It was supported by the log gables of the end walls of the house - “zalobniki”. After the top, “shallow” crown of the log house, the logs of the main and rear facades of the hut were gradually shortened, rising to the very top of the ridge. These logs were called “males” because they stood “by themselves.” Long log beams were cut into the triangles of the opposite gables of the house, which served as the base of the “lattice” roof. The tops of the gables were connected by the main, “prince’s” beam, which represented the completion of the entire structure of the gable roof.

Natural hooks - “hens” - uprooted and trimmed trunks of young spruce trees were attached to the lower legs. They were called “chickens” because the craftsmen gave their bent ends the shape of bird heads. The chickens supported special gutters for draining water - “streams”, or “water tanks” - logs hollowed out along the entire length. The roof ridges rested against them, which were laid on laths. Usually the roof was double, with a layer of birch bark - “rock”, which protected well from moisture penetration.

At the ridge of the roof, a massive trough-shaped log was “capped” onto the upper ends of the roofing timbers, the end of which faced the main facade, crowning the entire building. This is a heavy log, also called “ohlupnem” (from ancient name"Okhlop" roofing), clamped the gaps, keeping them from being blown away by the wind. The front, butt end of the ohlupnya was usually designed in the form of the head of a horse (hence the “horse”) or, less commonly, a bird. In the northernmost regions, the shelom was sometimes given the shape of a deer's head, often placing genuine deer antlers on it. Thanks to their developed plasticity, these sculptural images were clearly “readable” against the sky and were visible from afar.

To maintain the wide overhang of the roof on the side of the main facade of the hut, an interesting and ingenious design technique was used - successive lengthening of the ends of the logs of the upper crowns extending beyond the frame. This produced powerful brackets on which the front part of the roof rested. Protruding far forward from the log wall of the house, such a roof reliably protected the crowns of the log house from rain and snow. The brackets that supported the roof were called "releases", "helps" or "falls". Usually, a porch was built on the same brackets, walk-through galleries were laid, and balconies were equipped. Powerful log projections, decorated with laconic carvings, enriched the austere appearance of the peasant house and gave it even greater monumentality.

In a new, later type of Russian peasant dwelling, which has become widespread mainly in areas middle zone, the roof already had a covering on the rafters, but the log gable with the males was replaced by plank filling. With this solution, the sharp transition from the plastically saturated, rough-textured surface of the log frame to the flat and smooth plank pediment, while tectonically completely justified, nevertheless did not look compositionally inexpressive, and the master carpenters decided to cover it with a rather wide frontal board, richly decorated with carved ornaments. Subsequently, from this board a frieze developed that went around the entire building. It should be noted, however, that even in this type of peasant house, some brackets-outlets made from earlier buildings, decorated with simple carvings, and carved piers with “towels” were preserved for quite a long time. This determined mainly the repetition of the traditional pattern of distribution of carved decorative decoration on the main facade of the dwelling.

Erecting a log house, creating a traditional hut, Russian master carpenters for centuries discovered, mastered and improved specific techniques for processing wood, gradually developing strong, reliable and artistically expressive architectural and structural units, original and unique details. At the same time, they fully used positive qualities wood, skillfully identifying and revealing its unique capabilities in their buildings, emphasizing its natural origin in every possible way. This further contributed to the consistent integration of buildings into the natural environment, the harmonious fusion of man-made structures with pristine, untouched nature.

The main elements of the Russian hut are surprisingly simple and organic, their form is logical and beautifully “drawn”, they accurately and completely express the “work” wooden log, log house, house roofs. Benefit and beauty merge here into a single and indivisible whole. The expediency and practical necessity of any were clearly expressed in their strict plasticity, laconic decor, and in the general structural completeness of the entire building.

The general constructive solution of a peasant house is simple and truthful - a powerful and reliable log wall; large, solid cuts in the corners; small windows decorated with platbands and shutters; a wide roof with an intricate ridge and carved piers, and a porch and a balcony, it would seem, and that’s all. But how much hidden tension is in this simple structure, how much strength is in the tight joints of the logs, how tightly they “hold” each other! Over the centuries, this ordered simplicity has been isolated and crystallized, this only possible structure is reliable and captivating with the skeptical purity of lines and forms, harmonious and close to the surrounding nature.

Quiet confidence emanates from simple Russian huts; they have settled soundly and thoroughly in their native land. When looking at the buildings of old Russian villages, darkened by time, one cannot leave the feeling that they, once created by man and for man, at the same time live some kind of their own, separate life, closely connected with the life of the nature surrounding them - so they became akin to that place where they were born. The living warmth of their walls, laconic silhouette, strict monumentality of proportional relationships, some kind of “non-artificiality” of their entire appearance make these buildings an integral and organic part of the surrounding forests and fields, of all that we call Russia.

The traditions of the people of ancient Rus' are primarily associated with the home, with how family relationships were built, how the household was conducted, with customs, rituals and holidays. Building a house is an act of creation, creation. And carpenters in Rus' were likened to creators, considered involved in the sacred sphere and endowed with supernatural power and special knowledge about the outside world. To legitimize new model world, a world transformed by the accomplished creation, the construction was accompanied by certain sacraments...

The main, and often the only tool of the ancient Russian architect was the ax. Saws, although known since the 10th century, were used exclusively in carpentry for interior work. The fact is that the saw tears the wood fibers during operation, leaving them open to water. The ax, crushing the fibers, seems to seal the ends of the logs. No wonder they still say: “cut down a hut.” And, well known to us now, they tried not to use nails. After all, around a nail, the wood begins to rot faster. As a last resort, wooden crutches were used.

Rus' has long been considered a country of wood - there were plenty of vast, mighty forests around. Russian life was such that almost everything in Rus' was built from wood. From powerful pines, spruces and larches, Russians of all classes - from peasants to sovereigns - built temples and huts, bathhouses and barns, bridges and fences, gates and wells. As historians note, Russians lived for centuries in the wooden age. And the most common name for a Russian settlement - village - indicated that the buildings here were wooden.

Late 1940s. Construction of a log house in the village of Bukhovoe, Chaplyginsky district, Ryazan region, Central Order street, household of Alexey Makarovich Toropchin. Two carpenters are installing a window frame: the owner of the house has a level in his hands (on the left - A.M. Toropchin), the third member of the team is caulking the gaps between the logs.

Wood is one of the most ancient, traditional and beloved building materials by the Russian people. Why not a stone? After all, we also had a stone!

D. Fletcher answered this question back in the 16th century in his book “On the Russian State”:

“A wooden building is more convenient for Russians than a stone or brick one, because there is a lot of dampness in them, and they are colder than wooden houses, which is important in the harsh climate of Rus'; houses made from dry pine forests provide the most warmth" ...

Since ancient times, trees have been revered in Rus'. They turned to him, as if he were alive, on a variety of occasions: “Holy tree, help.” And the tree, heeding the request and prayer, helped. The great power of the earth and sky is concentrated in the trees. And our ancestors felt this with their pure hearts and therefore wooden huts- mansions built: “as beauty and peace say”, so they loved.

The spirit of the tree continued to live in the logs of the log house, in the floor and ceiling boards, in the tabletops polished to a shine and in the benches. Therefore, the peasant considered the hut itself, his home, as a part of nature, its spiritual continuation.

Entering such a house, you realize that its space is filled with the measured noise of the forest and streams fresh air; this space breathes peace and serenity. The house always has a subtle “forest” aroma of Siberian pine or larch, cedar, and spruce. The sun reigns here from morning to evening, soft pastel colors look natural, the resin flows down the logs like a tear of the sun, and with dark icons looks at the bright face of the Mother of God with a penetrating gaze...

The house looks truly majestic, like nature itself. It seems that this house has taken root, “taken root” in the environment, and has become an integral part of the surrounding forests and fields, of everything that we call Russia.

Home is something unique place on earth, where a person feels confident and calm, where he feels like a full owner. From here he counts all his movements in time and space, he returns here, here his family hearth awaits him, here he raises and educates his children, here his life flows. “Home is where your heart is,” wrote the Roman scholar and historian Pliny the Elder.

When creating a home for himself and his family, our ancestor entered into the closest and most complex connections and relationships with environment. Skillfully using its features, he strove to get used to nature, to merge harmoniously and consistently with it, to fit into its living and easily vulnerable structure. Existing next to and together with nature, developing in constant contact with it, he achieved, at times, amazing results in the most complex and responsible task of creating a full-fledged home, practical and expressive.

Natural observation, the experience of his ancestors, the traditions developed over centuries, the ability to perceive and objectively evaluate the features of the natural landscape awakened in the Russian an amazing “feeling” - he settled in, settled into a truly best place, where it was not only convenient, but also beautiful - the beauty of the surrounding nature was very important for him, and sometimes even decisive. It elevated the soul, gave a feeling of freedom and spaciousness.

Russian hut... It envelops you with the wise goodness of children's fairy tales, dissolving you into peace in your heart. For a Russian person, an ordinary village hut is a kind of original monument of his existence; the beginning of the Fatherland is associated with it - the root basis of his life.

Quiet confidence emanates from simple Russian huts; they have settled soundly and thoroughly in their native land. When looking at the buildings of old Russian villages, darkened by time, one cannot leave the feeling that they, once convened by man and for man, at the same time live some kind of their own, separate life, closely connected with the life of the nature surrounding them - so they became akin to that place where they were born.

Ancient North Russian huts tell us about how our ancestors lived during the times of Novgorod the Great and Moscow Rus'. What our ancestor did is practically what he said. Every hut is a story.

We know a lot about how modern wooden houses are built, what building materials, tools, and protective equipment are used for this. We are also familiar with other information, thanks to which we can easily build a house with our own hands. All this is good, but in order to build the future, we need to know our past well, in fact, what we will do today. In this article we will fill the informative void in our memory and find out how wooden huts were built in Rus'.

Construction Tool

So, before we talk about the construction itself, let's figure out what tool our ancestors used. There is nothing special to talk about here, since our ancestors had one single, reliable and trouble-free tool - an ax, which was used at any stage of construction. With its help, you cut down trees, stripped the bark from them, cleared them of knots, and adjusted the logs to each other. In a word, they did everything that could be required at the time of building the house. Due to the widespread use of an ax in construction, the expression “cutting down a house” was widely used at that time.

That is why today, out of habit, we call wooden houses log houses, although we almost never use an axe.

Procurement of materials

So, armed with an ax, our short-lived ancestors went into the forest and cut down trees. It is worth noting that the priority building materials of that time were coniferous trees, mostly pine and spruce. This can be explained by the fact that these rocks have an even structure, making them easy to process and lay. In addition, these trees, for the most part, have a suitable level of humidity, which made the house more resistant to shrinkage. Of course, at that time they did not know about the moisture content of wood, but they noticed that when using the same pine, the walls of the house were less likely to deform and crack, as happened with other species.

They tried to cut down trees in winter. First of all, this was due to the fact that in winter there was more free time, since there was almost no housework. In addition, our ancestors believed that a tree sleeps in winter, so it simply does not feel pain from blows from an ax. Surprisingly, they were right, since in winter the tree stops vital processes associated with metabolism, as a result of which the internal humidity of the tree decreases several times, which, in turn, has a beneficial effect on construction. Of course, people did not know any of this, but only used what their hearts told them.

The felled trees were dragged home on horseback. Next, using the same ax, the bark was cleared from the tree and sorting was carried out, where diseased trees, on which rot or insects were noticed, were discarded for cutting. After which, the wood was dried for some time, moved from place to place, and then construction began directly, in which men from the city street or from all over the village participated.

Construction of a wooden log house

So, when starting to build a log house, our ancestors used the same tool - an ax, with the help of which, after retreating a certain distance from the edge of the log, they cut out special holes in which other logs were fixed. There was no concrete, crushed stone, or durable stone at that time, so no one equipped the foundation. The first logs that were placed into the crown were placed on compacted soil. To compact the soil, a certain layer of soil was removed. The surface was leveled relative to the horizon in the same way. Having laid the first crown, the carpenters of that time began laying the next one, then another, and so on, until the walls of the house were completely ready. It is worth noting that when laying, the carpenters signed each log, regardless of the row. This was done in order to protect yourself from unnecessary work, if suddenly something goes wrong and you have to dismantle the entire house down to the log.

In the construction of a log house of the past, it is striking that the builders did not use a single nail, and this did not in any way affect the strength of the house. In addition, previously there were no insulation, protective equipment, paint and varnish materials, but wooden houses, with proper care, were always warm and could last 50 years or more. It turns out that this was the case.

In order to make the house warm, close all the cracks and seal the logs, carpenters of that time resorted to cunning. Ordinary forest moss was placed on the surface of each subsequent log, which, when the wooden house was shrinking, was pressed so hard that it completely covered all the through holes. In addition, these houses were small in size, so heating them was very easy.

The house was not built as quickly as in the past. As a rule, construction began in early spring and was completed in the fall. The owners simply did not have time to wait a year or two for the house to shrink, so construction of the roof began immediately after the construction of the walls of the house was completed.

As for the construction of the roof, the majority of the roofs were gable. This was explained by the fact that for construction of this type the roof was used minimally building material. As roofing material people chose straw because it was free and protected the house well from rain and snow. The roof structure itself strongly resembles modern roof in two slopes, load-bearing beams, “interfloor floor beams”, primitive sheathing, ridge and the roof itself. Attic space At that time, people used it to dry clothes, store some supplies from the garden, and also for unnecessary things. This was explained by the fact that in the house, due to the lack of free space, there was simply no place for these things. In turn, in the empty attic, the air was much warmer than outside, which was achieved thanks to the chimney.

As wall cladding, but mostly for the purpose of insulation, our ancestors used straw, which, no matter how strange it may sound, they mixed with cow dung and clay. The clay was rubbed smoothly, giving the outline of the house perfectly smooth edges of the walls and surfaces. Whitewash was applied over the clay, which was renewed, as a rule, several times a year.

Determining the center

Construction began with the identification of a ritual center. This point was recognized as the middle of the future dwelling or its red (front, holy) corner. A young tree (birch, rowan, oak, cedar, fir tree with an icon) or a cross made by carpenters, which stood until construction was completed, was planted or stuck here. A tree or a cross was likened to a world tree, symbolizing the world order and the cosmos. In this way, relations of similarity were established between the structure of the future building and the structure of the cosmos, and the act of construction itself was mythologized.

Sacrifice

In the center, designated by the world tree, the so-called construction sacrifice was laid. Like the world that is mythological representation was “deployed” from the victim’s body, the house was also “removed” from the victim.

In the early stages of history, the Slavs did not exclude human sacrifices when laying buildings, then livestock (most often a horse) and small animals (rooster, chicken) became the ritual equivalent of human sacrifice.

A passage from the Christian nomocanon reads: “When building houses, they are in the habit of laying the human body as a foundation. Whoever puts a person in the foundation will be punished with 12 years of church repentance and 300 bows. Place a boar, or a bull, or a goat in the foundation.” The construction victim later became bloodless. There is a stable set of three sacrificial symbols: wool, grain, money, which correlate both with the ideas of wealth, fertility, prosperity, and with the personification of the three worlds: animal, plant and human.

Laying the first crown

The ritual of sacrifice was combined with the laying of the first crown. This operation received special attention, because the first crown is a model for the rest of the crowns that make up the log house.

With the laying of the first crown, the spatial scheme of the home is realized, and now the entire space is divided into domestic and non-domestic, internal and external.

Usually on this day, carpenters place only one crown, after which a “casement” (“cover”, “stack”) treat follows, during which the craftsmen say: “Good health to the owners, but the house can stand until it rots.” If the carpenters wish the owners of the future house evil, then in this case, laying the first crown is the most appropriate moment: hitting the log crosswise with an ax and keeping the intended damage in mind, the master says: “Hack! Don’t wake up like that!” - and what he planned will come true.

Laying the matrix

The central moment of construction - laying the matrix (timber that serves as the basis for the ceiling) - was accompanied by ritual actions, the purpose of which was to provide warmth and prosperity in the house.

One of the carpenters walked around the topmost log (“cranial crown”), scattering grain grains and hops around. The owners prayed to God all this time.

The master priest stepped onto the mat, where a sheepskin coat was tied up with a bast, and in its pockets were placed bread, salt, a piece of meat, a head of cabbage and a bottle of green wine. The bast was cut with an ax, the fur coat was picked up from below, the contents of the pockets were eaten and drunk. They could raise the matitsa with a pie or loaf of bread tied to it. After installing the matitsa and the “matitsa” treat, they rode horses with songs so that the whole village could see that the matitsa had been placed. And only a day later they continued to finish building the house.

Cutting through windows and doors

Close attention was paid to the process of manufacturing door and window openings in order to regulate and secure communications inner world(at home) with the outside. When they inserted the door frame, they said: “Doors, doors! Be locked up by evil spirits and thieves,” and they made the sign of the cross with an ax. The same thing happened when they installed lintels and window sills for windows, and they also turned to the windows with a request not to let thieves and evil spirits into the house.

Home covering

The sky is the roof of the earth. Hence the orderliness of the world, harmony, because everything that has an upper limit is finished, unconditionally. A house, like a picture of the world, becomes “its own”, habitable and safe, only when covered.

The last and most plentiful treat for carpenters is associated with laying the roof, which was called “locking” the roof.

In the North they held a “salamatnik” - a ceremonial family lunch for carpenters and relatives. The main dishes were salamata of several varieties - a thick paste made from flour (buckwheat, barley, oatmeal), mixed with sour cream and seasoned with melted butter, as well as porridge made from cereals fried in butter.

Completion of construction

The rituals that complete the construction of a house seem strange. For a certain period of time (7 days, a year, etc.) the house had to remain unfinished in order to avoid the death of any family member. For example, they could leave a piece of the wall above the icons unwhitened, or they might not build a roof over the entryway for a year, so that “all sorts of troubles would fly out into this hole.” Thus, incompleteness and incompleteness were associated with the ideas of maintaining the existing order, eternity, immortality, and the continuation of life.