Finsterau Open-Air Museum
Granite stable, drying shed and flax-breaking house
Typical rural outbuildings
Everything is combined under one roof with smaller farmsteads: dwelling, “Austragskammer” (a small chamber for retired farmer & wife), baking oven, cellar, stable, barn, threshing floor and granary.
Larger farming operations retained the tradition of erecting a separate building for every purpose. Moreover, since the 19th century the farmers strove to arrange these buildings so that a farmstead enclosed by buildings on all sides was created. The Petzi-Hof at the open-air museum is a particularly impressive example of this. Some buildings which are now freely positioned at the museum stem from other farmsteads in the Freyung-Grafenau administrative district.
The granite stable from Rosenberg was originally integrated as a stable for cows and oxen in a four-sided farmstead facility. Noteworthy in this structure is that almost all buildings components and furnishings are made of granite: solid granite slabs as a ceiling, held by thick stone beams which rest on carefully hewn granite pillars. An exhibition featuring natural stone construction has been set up in the granite stable since 2010..
Built in 1789 (?), dismantled in 1979, reconstructed in 1982/86
The drying shed (Dörrboden) from Lackenhäuser is equipped with a simple mechanism, with whose help a type of drawer on a beam construction can be driven out in front of the building. Wet or unripe cereals were spread out in the drawer and transported to the sunshine during suitable weather.
Block construction from the 19th century – dismantled in 1970, reconstructed in 1979
The “flax-breaking house” (Flachsbrechhaus) consists of three different structural components: a drying room built in block construction, the masonry heating furnace with chimney and the actual flax-breaking room (Brechelraum).
Flax-breaking houses were usually located apart from the farmstead or village due to risk of fire. In turn, this made them popular meeting places for lovers. Two important working steps took place during flax processing in the flax-breaking house: drying the stalk of flax and the subsequent flax-breaking (Brecheln).
Built in the mid-19th century – dismantled in 1979, reconstructed in 1982
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