Belgrade : University of Belgrade - Faculty of Architecture
Abstract
This paper is focused on the disappearance of the traditional
architecture in the Stara Planina villages, in the Pirot area, at the
eastern border of Serbia. The paper gives authentic examples
of traditional rural architecture with emblematic traditional
elements and methods of construction, which have been
gradually disappearing over time due to abandonment of the
villages. Reasons leading to the villages withering away and the
decay of architecture in that mountain area are predominantly
enormous migrations of the village population to the cities as
a result of socio-economic changes and poverty of the region.
The abandonment of the villages leaves in its wake a sparse
ageing population, housing units and other structures in the state
of decay and ruin. In the past, the area was well-known as a
source of native, self- taught, builders called dunđeri, organized
in the groups of 10-15 people, tajva, famous and respected on
the territories of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. Nowadays their
descendants work and live in urban areas, and as a consequence,
the villages have not preserved their traditional building skills
