Highlander construction
Shepherd system – in the form of giving herds in spring for joint grazing under the care of shepherds and juhas helpers, breeding of Balkan species of sheep and goats, alpine and pastoral vocabulary concerning the names of animals and milk processing techniques, as well as clothing and, in a sense, music are the main indicators of connections with the Balkans, while the similarities to the agricultural status, out of language, they are manifested in construction and sculpture. The first tourists coming to Zakopane – educated intellectuals were moved and delighted by highlander architecture. Lifestyle made, that when the activities in the field and sheep grazing ended, there was little work left for the gaze, he was therefore able to manufacture and carve furniture, spoon racks, crates. As Stanisław Witkiewicz wrote: “Male highlanders grazing cattle in the summer, and especially in winter, when there is not much to do with the economy, having a lot of free time, She has long been involved in making household items out of wood and adorned them with passion”. The abundance of wood favored the interest in carpentry. To this day, a wooden cottage in the Zakopane style is the object of sighs of nouveau riche townspeople, and the teams of Zakopane builders go not only to the villa districts of Warsaw or Gdańsk, but also across the ocean.
The construction of a traditional hut, whose decor can only be seen in museums and open-air museums, was based on a simple scheme. It is built on a rectangular plan, made of logs placed on the corners, often cut along trunks, it had a gable roof without smoke boxes, covered with shingles, with decorated side gables. Entrance to the house – main door with a wide border (the doorframe) ending in an arched top, it led to a hall running across the building. From there, a ladder led to the attic, the door on the left to the so-called. the black chamber, on the right to the white. This room was used to store farm tools and a horse's harness.
Proper life went on in the black room, so-called from smoke-scorched amphibians, sometimes stained with animal blood, there was a kitchen stove with a hood in it. The walls were surrounded by permanently attached benches, there was a table and chairs by the stove, in the back – bed, where the hosts slept. Children and farm workers slept on benches. The furnishings were completed with chests, a spoon rack and a shelf for dishes. A shelf called a slat stretched high along the ceiling, on which, most of all, holy pictures were placed.
The white room is used as a common room, in which guests were received, it was devoid of an oven and a bed, the rest of the furniture was not that different. Table, set at larger ceremonies, it was more beautifully decorated – it was cut, for example,. more important dates for the life of the family. Efforts were made, by the carpentry, i.e. table top, it was cut from one huge sycamore trunk. Festive clothes hung on pegs. Place of honor, prominent, intended for an incoming visitor – on the property of the guest it is a coat, the angle between the facing and the gable wall. There was usually a flower garden in front of the front window of the white room. Another door led to the chamber, in which the boxes with flour were hidden, dairy, barrels with sauerkraut, bacon, chests with more valuable decorations and souvenirs.
A huge log called the pine tree stretched along the entire length of the ceiling, on which the ceiling entablature rested. Sosrąb was the reason for the pride of the host and the family heritage; in the middle of the room and where it meets the wall, it was decorated, especially star themes, the date when the beam was placed was cut out. The inhabitants often moved the old pine timber to newly built houses, adapting it accordingly; was treated as a kind of family chronicle.