Question

How can we preserve vernacular architecture in this modern world?

Answer 1

T he Vemacular Architecture of Slovenia is a.basic specialist and popu-
lar work on monuments of this kind by specialists in ethnology and con-
servation.
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Publications by architects, art historians and ethnologists have hither-
to concentrated on the development ofVemacular Architecture and on
typological reviews, but there ha s been no systematic review of properly
maintained and renovated publicly accessible monuments ofVernac-
ular Architecture, compiled from the point of view of the preservation
of the natural and cultural heritage. The introduction aims to present
preservation activities, their main tasks and the specific nature of the
preservation ofVernacular Architecture. The bulk of the publication
consists of a presen ta ti on of selected buildings and area s ofVernacular
Architecture with an emphasis on reviewing their significance and the
preservation works undertaken. Sin ce surveys of the most important
aspects of the ethnological heritage and protected ethnological monu-
ments are published exclusively according to professional criteria, we
have insisted on the existing basic criterion of selection with the primary
aim of promotion in the broader sense. Criteria of the degree of pres-
ervation and historic importance have also been observed.
The immovable ethnological heritage of the countryside, or simply
"Vernacular Architecture", consists of professionally selected and de-
fined rural settlements, market towns, homesteads, residential and farm
buildings and also alllandscape planning rela ted to the buildings. This
includes the culturallandscape, embracing all human activity in nature,
ranging from construction to the cultivation and exploitation ofland.
The value of our Vernacular Architecture cannot be judged according
to selected buildings from other parts of the world, which do not exist
in Slovenia. We should recognise that even the most elementary part of
our heritage is irreplaceable on the world scale. Our heritage bas sprung
exclusively from original, independent, Slovene creativity, which is
closely connected with and conditioned by the natural environment and
tradition of the particular community.
Ever since the very the outset, changes in economic activity have
prompted changes in the architectural heritage, although these have
occutred slowly and with some consideration. The deterioration oftra-
ditionallifestyles and changes in mentality with regard to appreciation
of the past in the post-war period have jeopardised the existence of
Vernacular Architecture more than ever before. Increasingly strident
claims that a modern lifestyle cannot be pursued in an outdated envi-
ronment have been beyond all sober justification. In recent times, these
threats to the existence and preservation of the architectural heritage
have been joined by the deserti on of the !and, the loss of its value, igno-
rance of the qualities ofVernacular Architecture and the desire to live
ina new, more beautiful home.
Because of the absence of co operation between the owners of examples
ofVernacular Architecture and conservation specialists, nowadays the
Institutes for the Preservation of the Natural and Cultural Heritage, un-
controlled adaptation and demolition have become so widespread in the
last thirty years that it is still impossible to curb them adequately. De-
spite a number of attempts, architects have failed to introduce proposals
for typical projects of new construction, adjusted to the locallifestyle,
into contemporary building in villages. Apart from the architectural
image, the image of the villa ge environment ha s al so changed. The
former arrangement ofvillages started to disappear when old, unwrit-
ten ru! es of the construction, distribution, proportions, scales and
height ofhouses, the use of materials appropriate to the environment
and the people, roof cladding and pitch, facade decoration, and the
disposal of windows, entrances and rooms, ceased to apply. Future
generations might be una ble to to see mills and sawrnills, drying hous-
es and granaries. It would be a great success ifwe simply recognised the