Karelia is a country of wood. Up to the middle of the 20th century stone buildings were a rarity here
even in the cities.
Northern houses were being built of wood for centuries. With the development of agriculture
houses acquired a stationary character and wooden huts replaced mobile shelters and yurts, which
belong to nomads. The buildings were made of massive horizontal beams. They have become a real
"real estate." Log houses can be easily dismantled and moved to another place, in contrast with the
constructions made of any other material. Also healthy elements from dismantled old buildings
were often used in the construction of new buildings.
Karelians lived on the territory of Karelian Isthmus and shores of Lake Ladoga. In the early Middle
Ages the Karelian tribes were a part of the Novgorod feudal republic. Karelians adopted Orthodoxy
in 1200-ies. Karelian culture experienced great influence of Russian culture, while Finnish culture
has been developed under the influence of the Swedes. From the 12th to the 17th centuries constant
military conflicts between Russia and Sweden forced Karelians to leave their territories and homes.
They were moving to the north and east, bringing with them their building culture, the roots of
which comes from the Novgorod Republic.
The traditions of wood construction were unchanged for centuries. Only the coming of industrial
20th century brought changes to this field.
The main instruments of the carpenter were an ax, a log scribe, a chisel and a later - saw.
The wood was harvested in winter time, from November to March. They started building a house on
the new moon after Easter. Woodworking with an ax influenced the condition and durability of
timber, because the pores of the logs cut with an ax close and water can hardly penetrate inside.
Homes were placed directly on the ground. Only stones were put under the corners. Gradually
cornerstones were plunging into the ground, and when the logs touched the ground, the house began
to "grow down." The contact with ground caused decay and disappearance of lower rows of beams.
Alvar Aalto said, that traditional Karelian architecture is as much essential for modern Finnish
architecture as Kalevala for Finnish literature. Relative simplicity of constructive techniques and
"primitive" technologies create a greater variety of architectural forms. These qualities were used by
Finnish architects in practice. Specialists of Honka know what a great influence Karelian
architecture has on log houses produced by the company.
Typically, traditional Karelian house consisted of two parts: a residential and a household part. The
residential part was used for family´s everyday life. There was a stove for cooking and heating, a
dining table in front of the middle window and benches along the walls. The household part was
used for cattle, hay storage, it was also a workshop, where, owners could handle linen or animal
skins, do joinery, make sleds or boats, etc. The oven for cooking for animals could be made also in
a remote separate household part.
The evolution of roof shows that even the original attic floor constructions and a roof were made of
logs. Later these elements have become much lighter.
Great attention was paid to the “magical” value of different elements of a building. According to the
Karelian tradition there should be three windows on the facade of the house or three plus two.
Sometimes two windows were transformed into one large paired window, because 4 windows on a
facade were banned.
Decorative items of the house carried especially great meaning. Images of solar symbols, crosses,
the tree of life were used to protect home owners from hostile forces. For example, it was very
important to decorate boards, covering the gable ends of the roof. Decorative elements of buildings
may be compared with the embroidery, which decorated the clothes of people and as the
embroidery they had also protective meaning.
At the same time building technology was pretty simple. Basically, two types of corner joints were
used in the construction of log cabins of round logs. The easiest arrangement of interlocking logs in
a wall is the so called “a corner v chashu". “Chasha” is a large groove, cut across one log for setting
another. Interlocking "v ohryapku" became popular with the advent of a saw. Even in such a big
construction as the Church of Transfiguration in Kizhi they used these simple “corners” with no
additional strengthening. The church has been standing almost three hundred years, before the
contemporary radical restoration.
The most important part of the building, such as church altar, could be chopped "without reserve",
the log ends have no projection outside the corner of building. Usually such a construction has a
hidden tooth. Later this method was used in ordinary constructions, to get more space using the
whole length of a log.
Usually walls were being finished inside the premises. In most of the cases it was done very
skillfully. Wooden keys in walls were used instead of modern pins. Wooden keys were used usually
in the openings.
The octagonal shape of the framework of church buildings was dictated not only by the esthetic
demands but manly by the desire to create big interior space using minimum length of a log.
Ancient measure of length, developed on the basis of the proportions of human body, was taken as
the bases to proportionate buildings. Therefore, buildings usually seem to be very comfortable.
In addition, the ancient architects knew the secrets of building the proportional space inside the
construction, which was clearly demonstrated by architect Krokhin.
Three rules of architecture according to Vitruvius: “solid, useful, beautiful” (" kauneus, kestävyys,
käyttökelpoisuus ") - were close to them. The “beauty” takes 70% of the building in the Church of
Transfiguration. The interior of the church in fact is very small. Wings-buttresses were built for
"solid", and the inner roof, which nobody sees - for "useful." Even if the main roof leaks, the
ceiling, consisting of icons, is protected and water cannot spoil them. That brings a special value to
the whole construction.
Much attention was paid to the protection of buildings from the damaging effects of water and sun.
At first, the walls of the most valuable buildings, such as churches, were made wider in the upper
part of the framework to keep away the eave as far from the walls as it is only possible. Bordering
on the walls appeared in the end of the 17thcentury.Then they started to paint the walls in yellow
and white colors. Over time, rich houses and churches began to look very elegant: painted walls
and window frames, painted in different colors of the rainbow. They used manly white, yellow, red
and blue. Sometimes they painted the surface of the logs, and later started to cover them by
planking.
Birch bark was actively used for different purposes. Experience showed, that birch bark is a unique,
breathable, natural material. In old times, two parts of the house were connected with the so called
“wooden locks”. Nowadays they were replaced by metal cramps. The same process we can see in
imitation of the traditional architecture, when wooden parts are being replaced by metallic ones. It
opens new technical opportunities, but tectonic carcass structure changes completely in favor of the
customer. And the results which were usually required great skill in former times, are now achieved
by the tricks of modern technological methods.