Preservation of Karelia's wooden buildings
Karelia is the traditional homeland of the Karelian peoples, who still reside on both sides of the Finnish/Russian border. The region is known for its striking wooden architecture. The EU-funded WOODENARCHITECTURE (Wooden architecture: Traditional Karelian timber architecture and landscape) project aimed to survey, catalogue and map such architecture in Karelian historic city centres. The research was intended to focus on development of supporting new technologies, while advancing historical study of the topic. Researchers established appropriate survey methods, which they then used to document examples of ancient and more recent wooden structures throughout Karelia. The stage yielded details about construction techniques and other architectural features. Preparatory phases also involved gathering applicable library material. The purpose was to compare drawings from the literature with field-collected photographs as well as newly created 2D and 3D drawings. The process involved verification of the original drawings. The study produced maps showing the distribution of Karelian architectural features, also in relation to the rest of northern Europe. Project members further applied their methods to documentation and conservation of more recent wooden architectures. The benefit is protection without damage. The WOODENARCHITECTURE project advanced understanding of Karelian architecture via a set of new tools. The tools can also prove beneficial in the conservation of other, more recent types of wooden structures.
