Work has been completed on replacing thatched roofs on vernacular architecture buildings

The work on replacing the thatched roofs on the roofs of the folk architecture buildings in the "Old Village" Museum in Kumrovec has been completed.

The "Old Village" Museum in Kumrovec is a unique in situ open-air museum in the Republic of Croatia, registered in the Register of Cultural Monuments of the 1st category. The museum evokes for visitors the authentic appearance of the Zagorje village from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is the only traditionally decorated area in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region that, through about forty renovated buildings of traditional architecture and many traditional objects, evokes for visitors the customs and everyday life of peasants. Several traditional houses, the hiža mazanka (a type of house with a straw roof) houses, in the museum are covered with straw. Due to the deterioration of this natural material (straw), it was necessary to replace the covering this year.

A traditional skill that is rarely preserved today is that of covering roofs with straw. Knowledge about this skill has been passed down from generation to generation and is part of the intangible heritage of the Hrvatsko Zagorje region. In the past, every household in Zagorje had its own grain or wheat, and it was not difficult to obtain straw for the thatches, which is also the name for a bundle of cleaned rye (or wheat) straw ready for installation and construction of a thatched roof. The stacking of the grain bundles for this type of covering is not done mechanically, but the rye or wheat straw is threshed by hand and stacked in the thatches.

A thatched roof is the best covering for a family home, as well as for farm buildings, because it radiates nature and health, does not let water through, but retains it as long as necessary so that it does not break, and this type of covering fits best into the natural environment in which the building is located. This covering is a good thermal insulator, waterproof, breathable, resistant to atmospheric influences, lightweight and, with the simplest care, long-lasting - it can last 20 - 25 years.

In the "Old Village" Museum in Kumrovec, from September 5 to October 21, 2023, work was carried out to replace the thatched roofs on the roofs of folk architecture buildings. The work was carried out by Predrag Goričanec and his employees from the company Slamnati krov d.o.o. Predrag learned to cover roofs with straw from a Slovenian master, from whom he gained basic knowledge about covering roofs with straw. However, he surpassed him in craftsmanship and today is one of the most famous thatched roofers in this part of Europe. This traditional skill of making thatched roofs, as a segment of the intangible heritage of our region, must be preserved for future generations so that it is not lost forever.

The work on replacing the thatched roofs on the folk architecture buildings in the "Old Village" Museum in Kumrovec was financed by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.