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VLKOLINEC
Gem of World Heritage Book
This book
is in Slovak. Resume in English.
It
contains: 67 color and 32 black and white photographs
In
Slovakia of the 1970s and 1980s there were only a handful of
conservationalists, architects and environmentalists who were
professionally orientated towards the preservation of folk
architecture and landscape. Only those few people were aware of a
high value of the small locality called Vlkolinec a detached
“street” of the town of Ruzomberok. However, they
enthusiastically defended it from any possible damage. Today
Vlkolinec is a famous treasury of folk architecture well known not
only to the experts but also to many visitors and tourists from
Slovakia and from abroad. Its popularity is to a high extent due
also to the decision made by the UNESCO Committee in its meeting in
Cartagena, Columbia (December 6‑1, 1993) that had added
Vlkolinec to the UNESCO List of World Heritage. The experts from all
over the world had placed this remote settlement the detached part
of Ruzomberok on the same level with such precious gems as the
Acropolis in Greece, city centers of Florence. Rome, Krakow, the old
city quarters of Salzburg, Salamanca and Bern, Westminster Abbey in
Great Britain, palaces in Versailles and Fontainebleau in France,
the Vatican, pyramids of Egypt, Taj Mahal in India and a lot of the
miracles created by the human spirit. All the mentioned and most of
the unmentioned buildings in Vlkolinec are made of wood and on that
rests its uniqueness.
The
international experts, when formulating their decision to add
Vlkolinec to the list of the world’s unique items, concluded that,
“VIkolinec is an extraordinary well-preserved settlement unit
consisting of typical log houses of the characteristic Central
European type. There is no knowledge about any other such group of
wooden architecture, judging from its homogeneity that can be
compared to Vlkolinec.”
Folk
architecture in Slovakia recognizes two basic types of
structures the lowland type and the mountain type. Vlkolinec
belongs to the latter, characteristic with the natural building
material wood. The village is built almost entirely of wood, with
typical shingle roofed log houses and a typical ground plan.
Scattered over its surroundings are a number of haylofts, and in a
small square is a wooden belfry. Made of wood are also stables,
barns, granaries, and also lattice fences. As the well-informed
experts say Vlkolinec represents an extraordinary well preserved
whole that, along with the undisturbed natural environment, makes it
a unique example of the urbanistic approach to the landscape.
Vlkolinec,
a detached satellite of Ruzomberok on the southern slopes of
Sidorovo mountain in Great Fatra, is an oasis of silence high in the
clouds, from where are to be seen beautiful views down to Liptovska
kotlina (Liptov Basin). It is not an artificial skanzen (open air
museum) but a village full of life. To keep it alive, and to
preserve the heritage of our forefathers for the future, we are
obliged to engage all our efforts on its reconstruction.
All
those who find the Slovak folk architecture a true reflection of our
nation, should help.
I
am sure that this publication, too, will contribute to the
preservation of the beauty and uniqueness of Vlkolinec, and to a
humble celebration of what whole generations had built, not only by
their hands but also by their heads, thus placing it among the
lasting values of our civilization.
JUDr.
Juraj Cech
Mayor
of the City of Ruzomberok
The hard cover
book is available now
US$66.50
plus US$11.95 shipping and
handling
TOTAL US$78.45
Please mail personal check
to:
Vladimir Linder
3804 Yale Street
Burnaby, BC,
V5C 1P6 Canada
Phone/Fax: 1-604-291-8065
Cell:1-604-889-4616
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