Hutsula household with reinforced siding, c. 19th, Breaza, Suceava county
The household of Breaza, built in the first half of the 20th century (circa 1925) comes from the village of Porcescu, commune of Breaza, and it is specific for a Hutsuls ethnicity. Integrated in the ethnographical area of Câmpulung Moldovenesc and situated at an altitude of about 1000 m, the Hutsul household is included in the architectural landscape specific for mountain areas, being composed of a house, barn and two firewood storage sheds.
The inhabitants' main occupations from this area were growing animals (especially cows and horses), wood exploitation and the agriculture, the arable lands being obtained by land clearing.
The house, built in softwood on a river stone short socket, has three rooms (two rooms and a pantry), and a partial porch disposed right next to the living room. The walls of the house are plastered on a circle in oblique slats with a mixture executed in sand and limestone. The roofing structure, on four slopes with a steep descendent, adapted to an area with frequent rains and snows, is covered in shingles. The stable, built in the “blockbau” technique with 14 meters long beams presents two appurtenances (stalls) stuck from the lateral walls, serving as hovel for the sheep.
The wear fabrics or the embroideries organizing the interior are remarked by the vegetal and floral predominant decorations, lacking the regularity or symmetry present at Romanian people in Bucovina, and not only. Even from the chromatic point of view, there are some differences: while black and white are dominant in the Moldavian ornamental compositions (appearance highlighted on the first world conflagration, many women grieving for their husbands lost in the war), the Hutsul wear is remarked by using the tones of two primary colours (red and yellow) and a secondary colour (orange). Some of the objects displayed in the “clean” room are a reminiscent of the owner's preoccupations (accordion, kobsa, trumpet, etc.). Attention is drawn by the “Toporek” or the Hatchet, a prestigious weapon carried on the holidays only by rich people that could pay the Austro-Hungarian administration 5 crowns for this privilege.
