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Ornamentation

In many cases, the examples of Dutch settlement architecture that survived in Mazowsze were richly decorated. The iconographic sources and existing restoration documentation demonstrate that building decoration was more common in the 19th century, and that the later 20th century buildings were less richly ornamented. The oldest buildings, which unfortunately did not survive to the present day, located in Nowy Troszyn, Nowy Wymyśl, Nowy Secymin and Sady (near Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki), were very often exquisitely wood carved - in doors, windows, roof ridge, as well as wall quoins. These elements, however, were not the only decorated parts of a house. The pine or poplar logs were painted at the connecting points, but in some cases the entire wall was whitewashed.

The windows definitely constituted the most visible decoration of the building. The carpenters decorated both the window frames as well as the window heads and sills (even with a quadruple frieze). The latter were made of wide slats, which were installed above and under the window and were decorated with carved arches, ridges, and geometric motifs. Batten or frame shutters, which were decoratively painted with oil paint and equipped with wrought iron handles, also contributed to the window garniture. The rugged unpainted walls emphasized the aesthetic quality of the whole. This way the green or dark blue frames, which were filled out with white panels, contrasted with the natural wood color. Additionally, the shutters were garnished with smith-made fittings - strap or s-shaped hinges with geometric designs carved on their surfaces.

Both the residential and the farm entrance doors were also decorated. Whereas the residential section doors had a paneled and batten structure with their upper part often glazed, in the farming section only batten doors were installed. These were all at least double doors (except paneled doors) decorated with boarding or wooden pieces (in the form of rhombs or squares), and were often spiked with smith-made clout nails. Some buildings had a double door installed on the farm side of the residential section. In such cases, the outer door had a batten, boarded, single, or double structure; the outer door had a paneled structure and was glazed. The whole design was complemented with strap or s-shaped hinges, which were similar to those installed in the shutters.

Sealing slats were the primary decoration of the wall logs; they were placed in the groove that was cut out at the log contact - the so-called berliński szpunt. This garniture, however, rarely occurred in the surveyed area. The second major method of log decoration was quoin boarding; the boards were exquisitely garnished not only by carving but also by attaching ornamental geometric elements. The roof ridge, especially above the residential section, was also very presentable and was often the pride of the owner. It was boarded with small planks with geometric designs, for instance a check board, separating the fields horizontally with horizontal cornices. Additionally, the gable was equipped with windows of various sizes, whose purpose was to lighten the loft spaces. The most interesting example was a small, triple or quadruple-sided semicircular window, which crowned the gable structure. The whole gable was bonded with a pinnacle, which was turned or carved from a baulk and attached to the wind ties.

The owners of the most impressive houses purposefully emphasized the appearance of the roof structure elements in the gable by decorating the ends of top plates, rafters, and ceiling joists.

The above-mentioned inscriptions, which were chiseled in the main doorframe, are a very unusual ornamental feature. Unfortunately, this element of decoration has now vanished.


Home | Introduction | Download e-book | Conference 2001 | Special thanks | The note of law | Contact
Articles: Poland | Małopolska | Mazowsze | Ziemia Łęczycka | Żuławy | Nizina Sartowicko-Nowska | Ziemia Kwidzyńska | Ziemia Walichnowska | Ziemia Sieradzka | Ziemia Wieluńska

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