A settlement is a social and economic unit, in which people live and work. According to their ground-plan, settlements are divided into several types that relate to the form of the field, to the way in which the settlements were founded, and to the time when they were founded. The basic type of settlement is extended by increasing density, buildings parallel to historical core, and buildings along communication axes. This process can be observed from the end of the 19th century and especially in the second half of the 20th century, when new production premises of agricultural cooperatives and new bocks of flats were built at the outskirts of settlements. At that time, built-up areas of villages and towns were made denser by unified constructions of cooperative stores.
A house is understood as a residential unit with farm yard. The building material was determined by local natural resources; for this reason, we can speak about the regions with earth houses, wooden houses, stone houses and combined houses in our republic. Ethnic influences played a role in the development of local forms of the house. The farm was an integral part of the house, as this did not serve as a dwelling, but also as a farm and production unit of the family. According to the mutual relation between the dwelling and the farm building, we can classify various types of farms, which were influenced by the countryside, the predominating farming activity, the type of settlement and fields, the historical situation, and the social structure of the family. The way of farming played a role in the transformation of rural settlements and houses in the second half of the 20th century. The cooperative farming with its concentration of farming activities into one production complex contributed to the extinction of traditional forms of the house and the farm; the old farmhouses were no longer used, they were not needful and thus replaced by new buildings with another function. Thanks to the wave of “holiday-home movement”, which spread from the late 1960s, many buildings could survive in quite an intact condition, which otherwise would have been endangered by demolishing due to the fact that they lost their function and that the comfort of habitation increased.
Traditional architecture can be safeguarded: 1) in situ; 2) by a translocation, or by replicas built in open-air museums. The governmental heritage care institutions participate in the protection of particular buildings and settlements.
Literature: E. Baláš: Sídelní formy a bydlení [Forms of Settlements and Habitation]. In: Československá vlastivěda III. Lidová kultura. Praha 1968, pp. 105-141.- V.Frolec: Lidová architektura na Moravě a ve Slezsku [Vernacular Architecture in Moravia and Silesia]. Brno 1974.- V. Mencl: Lidová architektura v Československu [Vernacular Architecture in Czechoslovakia]. Praha 1980.- V.Frolec – J. Vařeka: Lidová architektura. Encyklopedie [Vernacular Architecture. Encyclopaedia]. Praha 1983.- J.Škabrada: Lidové stavby. Architektura českého venkova [Vernacular Buildings. Architecture of the Czech Countryside]. Praha 1999.- M. Válka: Vesnické sídlo a dům [The Rural Settlement and the House]. In: Vlastivěda moravská 10. Lidová kultura na Moravě. Brno – Strážnice 2000, pp. 79-115
2.1. Cultural Landscape
2.1.1. Natural environment
2.1.2. Settlement
2.2. Village, rural town
2.2.1. Public areas (village green, roads)
2.2.2. Dwelling
2.2.3. Public buildings
2.2.4. Sacral buildings and constructions
2.2.5. Technical constructions
2.3. Homestead
2.3.1. Farm
2.3.2. Residential house (layout)
2.3.3. Farm building (stable, cowshed, granary, cellar, barn, shed, and hayloft)
2.3.4. Operational building (drying kiln, smoke house, distillery, weighing equipment, laundry room, well, and fountain)
2.4. Building material, structure, and house decoration
2.4.1. Building material (timber, earth, stone, wicker)
2.4.2. Building structure (log house, masonry, half-timbering, wattle and daub)
2.4.3. Roofing (shingle, thatch, slate, roofing tile)
2.4.4. House decoration (plastic, painted, gable, front facade)
2.4.5. Customs and superstitions associated with the construction of a house
2.5. Habitation
2.5.1. Interior
2.5.2. Furniture
2.5.3. Heating
2.5.4. Hygiene
2.6. Regional differentiation of the vernacular house
2.7. Protection and rehabilitation of vernacular architecture
2.7.1. Heritage care
2.7.2. Open-air museum
2.7.3. Holiday homes
2.7.4. Rehabilitation of the village