Autodidacts as Bearers of Traditional Techniques (with regard to building tradition in the lowland-house area in Moravia and Slovakia)

• Authors: Novotný Martin

Title variants

CS

Neškolení řemeslníci (tzv. náturisté) jako nositelé tradičních technologických postupů (s přihlédnutím k stavitelské tradici v oblastech nížinného domu na Moravě a na Slovensku)

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

The essay explains the background for rural buildings in the territory of former Czechoslovakia (Moravia, Slovakia). This concerns mainly the period beginning with the second half of the 19th century until the 1980s. The theme is infrequent in ethnology, which is also confirmed by the amount of relevant literature. The text takes into account the production of building elements and the portion of self-help (the participation of family members and neighbours in civil works). The text also outlines the word náturista [≈ autodidact, an untrained rural builder] and the transformation of its meaning over time. In the case of traditional techniques tied mostly to work with unburnt clay, the essay also mentions the background for their decline, limited performance, and short-lived rebirth in the early second half of the 20th century. The knowledge relating to the maintenance of old earth buildings survived in the researched area until the late 1970s, and it suddenly ceased to exist with the death of the last bearers of this tradition. The essay also pays attention to an interesting phenomenon, meaning the self-help home production of breeze blocks. This phenomenon was typical for rural architecture in Czechoslovakia beginning with the 1960s.

Keywords

EN

Rural architecture; vernacular buildings; vocational groups; self-help building; tradition transformation; Moravia; Slovakia

• Publisher: The National Institute of Folk Culture
• Journal: Národopisná revue (Journal of Ethnology)
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 236 - 245

Contributors

author

Novotný Martin