Characteristics
Construction and historical development
The barns as the second basic buildings at a homestead in Kopanice are documented mainly by the cadastral maps from the early-19th century. Therefore we can suppose their spreading as early as in the 18th century immediately after the new settlement of Kopanice had stabilized to a large extent. The building is usually placed near the homestead with good access. The timbered wall construction is made of local oaks and beeches whose not very straight trunks are rough-hewn. The building has not fast foundation but a strong oak beams ring, called podvala, which lies on the cornerstones. The outstanding wall up to its height of 2 metres is built of the trunks with lower diameter on which the ceiling and the tie beams are placed. The hip roof has a simple rafter truss with collar beams on every other pair of the rafters. The roofs had been covered with rye-straw thatches until the mid-20th century.
The layout refers to the infl uences of the neighbouring Carpathians and the extensive mountain farming. The barns are large but only with one “outbarn” separated from the loft by a timbered partition wall with a hole for sheaves handling. The loft walls are coated with clay plaster up to one meter height to avoid the threshed grains to fl y out. The threshing fl oor at the loft can be entered through a single gate, not a passable one as usual, sometimes completed with a small hole on the opposite side. This hole does not serve for communication but for a draught when cleaning the grains.
