Home, byre and hayloft in a single building
🏡 Layout of the spaces
In the upper valley, the functions of dwelling, byre and hayloft were concentrated within a single building. The ground floor comprised the byre and the cellar, always with a vaulted ceiling.
These rooms were often almost entirely below ground level and had only small windows – allowing cool temperatures in summer and tempered warmth in winter.
At street level there were very simple living quarters with stone floors (lose), consisting of a kitchen with the bedrooms alongside.
The next storey was entirely taken up by the hayloft: on one side large heaps of hay, on the other barley, rye and sometimes stacks of firewood.
🧱 Criteria for constructing vaulted ceilings
Once the excavation was complete, a timber formwork was put up, followed by stone masonry for the load-bearing walls.
The interior space was then filled with earth or bundles of brushwood (very small twigs). In a second stage, wide, thin stones were chosen and laid side by side to form the vault.
The carpenters were certainly highly skilled – they created true works of art that have endured over time.