The Waldlerhaus is a local form of agricultural building, typical of the Bavarian Forest and

Upper Palatine Forest The Upper Palatine Forest (german: Oberpfälzer Wald or ''Böhmischer Wald'', cs, Český les) is a mountain range in Central Europe that is divided between Germany and the Czech Republic. It is part of the larger Bohemian Massif and the German ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The term ''Waldlerhaus'' goes back to the 19th century and describes the house of a person who lives in and from the forest. Its distribution area is bounded by the edges of the Bavarian and Upper Palatine Forests. The boundary of the associated cultural-historical region has been complicated by recent history. Until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the area of the lower Bavarian Forest, the

Mühlviertel The Mühlviertel () is an Austrian region belonging to the state of Upper Austria: it is one of four "quarters" of Upper Austria, the others being Hausruckviertel, Traunviertel, and Innviertel. It is named after the three rivers ', ', and '. ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and the southern

Bohemian Forest The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as Šumava () and in German as Böhmerwald, is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and South Bohemia in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria in ...

in present-day Czech Republic, formed one large unit. This means there is also a difficulty in determining its boundary with the Bohemian Forest house (''Böhmerwaldhaus''), which occurs in the Czech Republic and in the "

Šumava The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as Šumava () and in German as Böhmerwald, is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and South Bohemia in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria i ...

", the Czech part of the Bohemian Forest.

Description

The Waldlerhaus is, as a rule, a single-ridge house (''Einfirsthaus'') with a

gable roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...

. They are mostly small one- or two-storey unit farmhouses with a cattle shed at the back. A barn is usually built onto the end. The ground floor may be made of stone. The knee wall (''Kniestock'') or upper storeys are usually made of wood. Stone-weighted shakes formed the original roof coverings; later replaced by interlocking tiles (''Falzziegel''). The broad

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

of the roof were designed for with the high levels of precipitation in the low mountains in mind. They offered good drainage of rainwater and dry open-air storage. In switching the roofing to tiles, the roof pitch often had to be increased, something that can easily be seen from the beams on the roof ridge. Tiles were favoured in the 20th century because they reduced fire insurance premiums. The house entrance is almost always on the eaves side. In the Bavarian Forest Museum Village, however, there are several houses with an entrance at the gable end. In front of the main door is the so-called '' Gred'', a usually cobbled, rain-protected path along the eaves side. The house door opens into a corridor, the so-called ''Flez''. The first door towards the gable leads immediately into the living room or ''Stube'', which is usually square, with two windows in the gable and a door on the eaves side. On the gable end on the upper floor, rarely on the eaves side, it is common to have a balcony called the ''Gang'' or ''Schrot''. This balcony is very often boarded for up to a few square metres, probably as protection against the rigours of the harsh climate. The king post (''Firstsäule'') is one of the few decorative elements, but also fulfils the function as a means of hanging up various things. The eaves side of the upper storey is also used externally. The bracket beams (''Konsolbalken'') were adapted so that boards, rods, ladders and the like could be stored here in the dry. In the forest areas there were rarely wealthy farmers. As a result, the Waldlerhaus is often small. The smallest ones are called ''Sacherl'' or ''Gütl''. A Waldlerhaus is also used in many larger farms as an ''Austragshaus'' for the older generation, as they hand over the farm.

Gallery

File:Böhmerwaldhaus in Stachy.jpg, The Schopfwalm ist der wohl entscheidendste Unterschied File:Blockbohlenbauweise eines Böhmerwaldhauses in Masáka Lhota.jpg, Mit hellem Putz verstrichene Zwischenräume sind häufig in Masákova Lhota zu finden File:Böhmerwaldhaus in Chaluppy 101, Stachy.jpg, In den „Deutsch Chaluppen“ bei Stachau/Stachy ist einer der am besten erhaltenen Böhmerwaldhöfe zu finden File:StadlernWeidingerStraße1.JPG, Mit dem Halbwalmdach rechnet man dieses 2017 mit dem Denkmalpreis versehene Haus in Stadlern (Landkreis Schwandorf) eher zum Typus Böhmerwaldhaus

Literature

* Gabriele Blachnik: ''Auf dem Weg zu den Bayerwaldhöfen, Vier Radtouren und eine Wanderung'', publ. by the Finsterau Open-Air Museum, 2007 * Ortmeier, Martin: ''Bauernhäuser in Niederbayern'', Passau, 1989 * Baumgartner, Georg / Ortmeier, Martin (Hrsg.): ''Freilichtmuseum Finsterau (Bayerische Museen 3)'', Munich, 1986

References

External links

„Wir in Bayern“ Beitrag des Bayerischen Fernsehens zum Thema

Schriftenreihe des Bayerischen Denkmalamtes

Projekt „Birg mich, Cillie“ von Peter Haimerl
{{European farmhouse types Bavarian Forest Upper Palatine Forest Agricultural buildings