Bresse house

When Bressehaus is a half-timbered house in post and beam construction, which is filled in with mud bricks. A big hipped roof protects the sensitive walls from rain and snow. Almost without exception, the house in north-south direction, the roof is pulled often lower on the north side. This orientation provides optimum protection from the cold Bise, which is also passed through the lower solid roof of the northern gable end over the house. The living spaces are located on the south side, where the main facade is directed against the morning sun. Typically, each room has one or two doors to the outside, so that none of room for corridors lost.

The cantilevered roof is supported by brackets or pillars, the lower part of the roof is attached to a second, shorter rafters, creating a buckling roof is formed. The canopy allows rings to store items around the house on dry land and in particular to suspend corn cobs to the rafters for drying.

The landscape of Bresse is characterized by its agricultural buildings, the villages are often heavily urban sprawl, the farms are often located far from the village, close to water, forests, preferably on easy surveys.

Features

Truss

During the truss in the 14th and 15th centuries was a large area and simple, developed in the 16th and 18th centuries and more complex shapes to lend a hand, the building stability, on the other hand as well as visual design. Particularly popular is crossed heavy lines that formed a St. Andrew's cross. The half-timbered building remained until about the middle of the 19th century. Then began a change by increasing rammed earth was used in the southern Bresse, often with reinforced corners by these built with bricks or stones and the facade surfaces were created using rammed earth. In the northern Bresse brick has been used since the 19th century in general, at most brick inferior quality. Simultaneously, the hipped shortened on the gable end to partial hip or even the simple gable, which was almost entirely omitted the side gable roof.

Hofformen

There are two main Hofformen have emerged. On the one hand Eindachhof which is divided transversely and at the most the threshing floor in the middle is ( Wed Bankrupts house ), on the other hand Zweiseithof which is possibly supplemented with additional outbuildings. The main buildings are usually in a north-south direction. There are often discrepancies by dragging the building from the northeast to the southwest. During the construction of the houses seemed to be governed by the sun, by the morning sun had to shine upon the living rooms. Due to the fact that the construction activity, particularly in the winter was (outside of the busy summer time), this resulted in a deviation of the alignment. Very rare alignment of northwest to southeast is found.

The rural estate comprises at least three areas:

• Residential buildings
• Stables and feed store ( Tenne )
• Backhaus with pork and chicken coop

The buildings can be separated or made residential house, feed storage and stables as longitudinal building after another. The house is usually located along the western boundary of the Hofraumes in separate buildings are threshing floor and stables also in the longitudinal direction along the eastern border. In the northeastern courtyard area is usually where the bakehouse with the small animal barns. In the southeastern Bresse there are few properties that are built in angular form.

Residential buildings

Living space

The main room of the building formed la maison (in the south, le hutau in the north). This part of the house was regularly infilled with raw or burnt bricks, the floor was beaten earth. It was the largest room and served as the center of life for the whole family, was heated, originally a Saracen chimney ( cheminée sarrasine ), later with an open fireplace ( cheminée à hotte ). This room was generally quite large, often pointed to the fireplace alone an area of ​​4 m × 4 m. In the corners stood beds, along with simple boxes for personal belongings. A long, narrow oak table stood in the middle of the room under the ridge board, from the hanging spoons and forks. On the narrow wall, behind the Saracen chimney was the seat ( archebanc ), which was solemnly blessed during the reference house. The windows were small, at most they had wooden shutters, often they were glazed. A little bit of light also fell by the Saracen chimney, along with rain and snow. A corner of the room was reserved for the chapel, a kind of family altar, with a simple figure of Mary, a holy water basin, one or two candles, images of saints and patriotic prints. The Shrine was regularly whitewashed on the eve of fair.

Saracen chimney ( fireplace sarrasine )

With this feature it was an open fire of considerable size, which was heated in the middle of the fire pit. In addition, the chimneys on the roof were covered with quaint decorations. The living room was bisected by the ridge board, placed the fireplace in one half of the room. As a flue serving a huge, inverted funnel which was attached to First and Mittelpfette. It also consisted of a wooden structure that was filled with clay and smeared. The flue pipe began in the living room, sat down in a funnel shape to the roof, where he merged with the picturesque Mitra (chimney construction ). The open fire was common in the Middle Ages and until the end of the 19th century throughout Europe and as far offers nothing special. The origin of the miter and the name Saracen are not clear, but it is only used in Bresse. Whether this construction actually. Schwadronierenden by the Saracens in the 8th -12 Century was brought into the Bresse, or whether it is a component that has been brought back from the Crusades, is unclear. The term Saracen is not Christian and is equivalent to the Latin barbarus.

Furnace chamber

Next to the living room, there was regularly a second room, la chambre de poêle. There the family lived in the winter, because the space through the adjacent fireplace while heated, but was closed and myself had no fireplace opening, penetrated by the cold. Had the family servants and maids, this was the living room as a bedroom reserved, while the master people slept in the furnace chamber. The family had no employees, was often twice a year, a move from the living room into the furnace chamber as a winter residence and into the living room as a summer home. Many simple Bressehäuser possessed only about these two rooms.

Girl's Room

Wies the house several rooms on, the furnace chamber closed to the girl's room. Wall to wall with the parents remained the custody and parental supervision respected, especially since the girl's room was often only accessible through the furnace room and not have its own exterior door had.

Servants room

The male and female servants lived basically in the living room, but the house was spacious and the family wealthy, has been assigned to this room next to the living room - against the girl's room.

Parents' room

In the servants room, possibly in an annex building or wedged between the other facility rooms the room was the grandparents. This normal practice shows how high was the appreciation for the old, no longer capable of working families of simple peasant family.

Outbuilding

To Bressehaus Basically belongs to the draw-well, which can reach a depth of up to 25 m depending on the circumstances. Also an integral part of Bressehauses is the bakehouse. Depending on the wealth Bressehaus is supplemented with ancillary buildings or parts of buildings. This includes sheds, chicken coops, dovecotes or sheep and goat pens.

Stables

The stables are parallel to the residential building, about 20 to 30 meters in order to reduce the risk of fire, either as a separate building. They are generally low and can infill lehmverstrichenem branch braid have, or also infill raw or fired clay bricks. Under the large roof hay and straw is stored. In the southeast of Bresse, the stables are often grown perpendicular to the house and thus form a angular structure.

Backhaus

The bakery is consistently a separate building, often together with the pork and / or chicken coop. This allows the preparation of the pig feed in the bakehouse. The bakery is - especially in the northern Bresse - a double Building: On the one hand quite spacious Backhaus, it directly attached to the furnace in a somewhat lower Annex. The chimney rises up between the two buildings.

Fountain

The fountain has always had a great significance in the Bresse, which has few sources and potable surface water. In contrast to that almost all drinking water relatively close to the surface. The fountain was usually covered, possibly by the projecting canopy or by a separate roof structure. In the northern Bresse long Balancierstangen with counterweights were originally common today the wells are consistently provided with cranks and chains.

Regional differences

Due to the historical division of the Bresse Bresse bourgignonne and the Bresse de l' Ain, the architectural styles of the farmhouses have developed differently. From Cuisery the boundary moves south of Louhans, about Sagy the Jura. The construction of the walls is in and of itself the same, however, there are differences in the roof. In the Bresse bourgignonne the roofs are usually steep and high, and covered with flat tiles, while the roof in the southern Bresse is shallow (<25 % slope ) and is covered with a monk and a nun. Older Bressans still remember that, in her youth, the majority of fermes were covered with straw.

Feature of a Bressehauses in the northern Bresse is the umbrella jewelry. Very often mounted at the crossing point of the roof ridge and Dachgrat a "brick turrets " or a gable flower, but often also the First is decked out in its entire length.

In the border area of law, the house is often built of natural stone, mainly crushed limestone, which can be easily procured from the Jura. Some of the house corners are at least built of stone, in order to increase stability. In the area against the Maconnais and the Chalonnaise, the court closed and are frequently encountered Vierseithof which are enclosed by a wall. The road is obtained through a portal.

In the marshy area of ​​Bellevesvre and Beauvernois persisted until the 1930s, poor, little huts on stilts. These served the frog catchers as dwellings. Supposedly the last of these houses were demolished in 1931.

Regional characteristics

An old tradition bressanische allowed that anyone was in the municipality's own heath, outside of urban areas, the beneficiaries of the land and the surrounding terrain, if he built his house during a night. Around Pulling, who wanted their settling, or children of poor people who wanted to start his own household, had this opportunity to be overnight with the landowner. During the winter days the wood was harvested and prepared for construction, friends and comrades were asked to help and one day everything was neatly provided. Preferably, during a long winter full moon night, the building was tackled and at cockcrow adorned with a sprig of mistletoe the ridge of the thatch. Often, however, remained the new owners still poor and needy, their homes were in forest clearings, in rough terrain, far away on the municipal boundary. They tried to earn their livelihood with day laborers work with poaching or the frog fishing, smuggling Marc, set forth matches, tried with quackery or even witchcraft. The last house was built in one night in 1902 in Mervans by Marie Chalumeau. The material was largely a waste wood from construction of the station, which was coming into existence at that time.

Construction process

Arrangement, elements and characteristics of Bressehauses are not due to chance, but they are the result of that construction. First, it was determined where the main building is to stand. Either stones were buried where later, the walls should be, or as thick as possible oak beams were at least designed as a square. On this stone or wood foundation thresholds and stand were asked and stabilized with bars and heavy directions. Finally, the ceiling was installed and set up the attic. At the same time started the construction of the bakery. Stones were often used, at least for the oven, the building rather small. At the site of the future fountain, a hole was dug to push forward as quickly as possible to the clay layer. The clay was promoted, pressed into molds into bricks that were fired in the bakehouse. After the completion of the wood construction, this was shelved, at best, with burned, possibly with raw clay bricks. In the worst case, the infill was done with braided branches, which were passed with clay. By this construction, the components that distinguish the Bressehaus result: burn the house in the post and, as a result of the well Lehmförderung and future water supply and the back house to the brick.

Swell

• G. Jeanton, A. Duraffour: L' Habitation Paysanne en Bresse. 2nd edition. Publisher Société des Amis des Arts et des Sciences de l' Arrondissement de Louhans, 1993.

Single Documents

• Design ( framework)
• Design ( Agriculture)
• Of buildings