Traditional House-Yard Complex in the Historical Settlements of the Terskoye Pomorye (Based on the Materials of Expeditions to the Village of Varzuga)

Usov Aleksei Aleksandrovich ORCID: 0000-0002-0466-0124 PhD in Cultural Studies Associate Researcher, Scientific Center of Traditional Culture and Museum Preservation, N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 163020, Russia, Arkhangelsk region, Arkhangelsk, Nikolsky Prospekt, 20 usov@fciarctic.ru Other publications by this author

IntroductionThe study of wooden architecture of the Russian North began in the second half of the XIX century .

And although the attention of researchers such as I.E. Grabar, M.V. Krasovsky, V.V. Suslov, etc., was primarily attracted by outstanding monuments of cult architecture, at the same time works addressing the topic of civil architecture appeared. So it was in the 1870s that L.V. Dahl published a series of scientific articles where he presented his vision of the development of residential buildings in Russia. Russian Russian hut, as well as the location of its individual elements – porches and vestibules, is based on a log house (later A.V. Opolovnikov would develop this idea in the concept of "logs – a universal architectural module" in the architecture of the Russian North ^[1]). Also, Dahl proposed a concise typology of Great Russian buildings (dividing them into 2 groups: the dwellings of Novgorod and the entire northern strip, the dwellings of the southern strip); determined the factors of transition of the Little Russian hut to the Northern Russian hut ("Russian winter, excess of forest, Great Russian dormitory"), analyzed the architectural and structural structure, layout and decorative design of the house with an indoor utility yard ^[2]. It can be argued that L.V. Dahl in his essays anticipated the main subjects of research concerning the issue of peasant housing in the European North of Russia. Over the next century and a half, the accumulation of empirical material is increasing (I.E. Zabelin, M.V. Krasovsky, I.V. Evdokimov, K.K. Romanov, R.M. Gabe, S.Ya. Zabello, etc.), methods of typologization of housing are being improved, a deeper understanding of its genesis is emerging (E.E. Blomquist). The house is studied in the broader context of Northern Russian settlements (I.V. Makovetsky, A.V. Opolovnikov, Yu.S. Ushakov), analyzed in the prism of semiotics (A.K. Bayburin, N.A. Krinichnaya, N.M. Terebikhin), comprehensive cultural studies of folk architecture of the Russian North are conducted (A.B. Permilovskaya). However, even such a thorough previous study of the issue of traditional housing leaves us room for its modern understanding.

            The historical value of the few old houses-complexes is beyond doubt, however, the study and preservation of monuments of traditional wooden architecture even in the early – mid XX century and rural historical settlements in general also has practical significance for the development of tourism and cultural industries of the regions of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. A typical house-yard is undergoing changes in its interior decoration, in accordance with modern realities, but still retains the traditional foundations of architectural and structural design, its place in the building and cultural landscape of Northern Russian settlements. Over the previous 4 years, the author, as part of the expedition groups of the Scientific center of Traditional Culture and Museum Practices of the FITSKIA Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, took part in the survey of settlements on the Onega and Pomeranian shores of the White Sea – Onega Pomerania ^{[3; 4]}. This article presents the results of the continuation of this series of research works, however, on the northern coast – on the territory of the Terek Pomerania. The village of Varzuga of the Tersky district of the Murmansk region acts as a "case study".

Historical backgroundThe village of Varzuga is located in the southern part of the Kola Peninsula, on both banks of the river of the same name, 20-22 km from the confluence of the Varzuga River with the White Sea.

The coast from Cape Svyatoy Nos to the Varzuga River is called the Tersk Coast ^[5]. Its northeastern part (from the Ponoy River to the Pyalitsa River) has a harsh appearance: "steep, steep banks, dissected by the valleys of numerous rivers, covered with lichens and scanty tundra vegetation. There are many rocky islands off the coast, and wide and rather large lips <...> slightly protrude into the land and are open to the winds, so there are almost no convenient bays for fishing vessels" ^{[6, p. 37]}.

Russian Russian population of Varzuga–Pomora is a subethnos, a Russian variant of marine culture in the Arctic ^{[7, p. 362]}. However, the parish priest Mikhail Istomin, who worked in the XIX century. indicates that not only Russians lived in Varzug. According to him, runaway "lapps (Semiostrovskie), Koreans, soldiers and even German defectors" often settled within its borders ^{[8, p. 248]}. The Karelian basis of the medieval population is also evidenced by the results of recent archaeological studies of the Tersk Coast ^[9].

The basis of the economic life of the Pomeranian volosts of the Tersk coast was the extraction of fish and sea animals (the most important among which was the semuzhy fishery), along with them salt production was developed here, which became an attractive factor for the arrival of monasteries on the White Sea coast.

For the time of the founding of the village of Varzug, there are 2 main dates: 1419 and 1466. The first date is known from the mention in the "First Novgorod Chronicle", which contains a narrative about the burning of the Korel monastery churchyard by the Norwegians on the Varzug river ^{[10, p. 13]}. The second date is reflected in the "Gift of Timothy Ermolinich to the Solovetsky Monastery for plots in Umba and Varzug" ^{[11, p. 219]}. Thus, Varzuga arose no later than 1419, but probably no earlier than 1137, in accordance with the Charter of Svyatoslav Olegovich, where it is not mentioned as one of the 27 tribute collection settlements on the White Sea coast ^[12]. This makes Varzuga probably the oldest Russian settlement of the Kola North. Since the end of the XV century . Varzuga passes into the possession of the Grand Duke of Moscow. During the Middle Ages, the village was strongly influenced by monasteries. For a long time, the Varzuzhans were economically dependent on large feudal landowners. A special date for the history of the village is 1568, when the Kholmogorets complained to Ivan IV about the residents of Varzuga, who allegedly illegally appropriated their patrimony. In response, the tsar sent a detachment of oprichniks led by Basarga Fedorovich (Leontiev) to Varzuga. He made a "rule" and defeated several Kola volosts and villages ^[13].

Since the middle of the XVII century, the number of settlements of the Tersk coast has been increasing, the process of settling varzuzhans in places of seaside crafts in Kashkarants, Salnitsy, and in 1674 – the village of Kuzomen ^[14] begins. Until the middle of the XIX century . Varzuga retains the importance of the main religious, commercial and administrative center of the Tersk Coast. In the second half of the XIX century, the traditional way of life of the Pomors began to change, convenient transport links became crucial, capitalist industrial production began to develop. In Soviet times, there was an intensive development of agriculture, the forestry industry and many other traditional and new industries. By the mid-1930s, the Varzuzhsky Fishing Collective farm began working. Currently, there are no industrial enterprises on the territory of the rural settlement. The development of the economic complex is characterized by a high proportion of the fishing industry. The sphere of ecological tourism is actively strengthening in Varzug ^[15], based primarily on summer salmon fishing, as well as (to a lesser extent) preserved monuments of wooden architecture.

Varzuga village: layout and housingThe village of Varzuga consists of two parts ("sides" or "shores"):

Nikolskaya (the most ancient) and Assumption (or Prechistenskaya). At the same time, local residents always call the right bank of the Assumption, and the Prechistenskaya side is a name that can be found exclusively in modern network discourse. According to varzuzhan, its dissemination in the information sphere is entirely the desire and merit of the Church (including Bishop Mitrofan (Badanin) of the North Sea and Um Diocese (PMA. Usov A.A. Report on the expedition to the Tersky district. Informant Chunin Pavel Anatolyevich, born in 1996, M.R. and M.P. – Murmansk, entry 2022).

Parish tradition considers the Assumption parish to be the oldest of the former two Varzug parishes, but the Peter and Paul parish, at least, already at the end of the XVII century. it should be recognized as existing independently, as can be seen from the inscription on the bell: "202, bought this bell of the Varzug parish to the church, the supreme apostles Peter and Paul and St. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on church money kargopolets Ivan Andreev son of Priests, weight 25 p. 11 f."; and also – on the altar wooden cross, "summer 7205 May on the 24th day put this cross kargopolets Andrey Evsigniev son of Priests, yes his son, Ivan Andreev" ^{[8, pp. 247-250]}.

The shores received their names from the temples standing here – the many-headed Nikolskaya (1705) and the tent Dormition (1674) churches, respectively. In total, there are currently 5 temples in the settlement (one of them is the house church of Sergius of Radonezh (2014) and 1 chapel. In addition to the above–mentioned religious buildings, on the left bank there is also the Kletskaya Church of Peter and Paul (1864), and on the right - the church of the many-headed St. Athanasius of Alexandria and St. Zosima and Savvati Solovetsky (1878) and the chapel of Uar of Egypt (2007). Assumption and Afanasiev churches together with the bell tower (2001, pervonach. destroyed in 1939) make up the preserved cult ensemble "tee" (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The cult ensemble of the Assumption side. Assumption Church (1674), Bell Tower (2001), Afanasiev Church (1854), priest's house with the church of Sergius of Radonezh, palomn. centre. Photo A. Usova, 2022

Varzuga is a special case of the formation of two parishes in one village. The right-bank Assumption parish consisted of a church of the same name, a single-domed St. Nicholas Church and a bell tower (XVIII century). In 1578, the Peter and Paul Parish was formed on the left bank, also from the Peter and Paul and St. Nicholas churches with a bell tower (originally in the ts. Peter and Paul there was a separate belfry over the refectory) ^[16].

Due to the location of parts of the settlement and temples on two banks, the village of Varzuga can be classified as multicenter, paired with mutual perception, riverine (type IV-A-b according to the classification of Yu.S. Ushakov ^[17]). The village is a variant of a mixed composition with a combination of linear and paired types (which is typical for settlements not only of the Tersk, but also of the opposite Murmansk coast, since in Russian colonies houses were mostly built in rows along the river by analogy with northern villages ^[18]. The distance from the coast by 22 km is justified by the need to hide from possible invaders, as well as the presence of good flood meadows in the bend of the river.

The dominant vertical of the village is the Assumption Church, the tallest and most expressive in silhouette. It plays a leading role in the two-way perception of Varzuga, both from the river and from the coast. In general, the village gave the impression of "a clear and harmonious composition, where all the dimensions of the structures correspond to the visual distances between them" ^{[16, p. 89]}. Currently, the perception of the verticals of the architectural ensemble has changed somewhat due to the construction of telephone towers.

Probably the oldest part of the settlement is located in the area of the Nikolsky cemetery (on the left bank), because the remains of rotted salary crowns were found at this place. In the middle of the XX century (approx. 1966-1977), the orders of houses were located on both banks as follows: two orders on the left bank (most of the village with a good, southern orientation), one order on the right (Fig. 2) ^{[17, p. 78]}. As of 2022, there are 4-5 orders of houses on both banks. The most active construction is carried out on the Assumption side, where the collective farm is building new houses for workers. However, in general, as modern researchers note: "although many houses are placed chaotically and excessively close to churches, there is no dissonance, spiritual and residential buildings are so merged" ^[19].

Fig. 2. The main street of the village of Varzuga. The Assumption side. Photo from 1961 from the House-Museum of the history of everyday life of the Pomors.

The orientation of the main facade (i.e. the windows of the "winter" hut) depends on the location of the house on the shores of the settlement. Relative to the most ancient part of the settlement on the left bank, the river, as a natural dominant, is located on the south side. Thus, the facades of the huts here are turned in every sense to a more favorable sunny side, which provides additional lighting and warmth. Such a good location is especially important in winter. Moreover, from the point of view of the aesthetics of the natural and architectural ensemble, it is from the windows of the left bank that the view opens on the architectural dominant and the main cult attraction - the Assumption Church (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. View of the Assumption Church from the Nikolskaya side. Photo A. Usova, 2022.

Varzug village is characterized by a complex of a house-yard of the "timber" type on a medium and high basement. The most common type of hut layout is pyatistenok. There are 3-5 windows on the main facades, but the presence of 3 is most characteristic for modern residential buildings. The roofs are gable, rafter. The vast majority of houses have a straight pediment with 1 window (Fig. 4). Towers-mezzanines are rare.

Fig. 4. The house-yard of M. P. Moshnikova, S. Varzuga (Nikolskaya side), Tersky district, Murmansk region, ser. XX century . Photo A. Usova, 2022.

The architectural, structural and planning structure of the complex of the house-yard of the village of Varzuga is in general identical to the residential buildings of the Onega Pomerania surveyed in 2018-2021, although it has some distinctive features.

The local house consists of two huts, located relative to each other from opposite ends of the building. The main facade belongs to a winter hut and "looks" with windows at the puzzles of the houses in front (which are the facades of summer huts, which is aesthetically more attractive than the solid walls of farmyards in Onega Pomorie) or faces directly to the river for first-order dwellings. A typical house is a "five-wall" type. The large half with two windows is called the front – this is the main, guest room. Depending on the size of the house, there may also be a large Russian oven, provided that the door from the hallway leads directly to the living room (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. V. V. Biryukova's house-yard, Varzuga village (Nikolskaya side), Tersky district, Murmansk region, beginning – ser. XX century . Photo A. Usova, 2022.

If there is a kitchen separated by a wall between the hall and the front, then a large oven is arranged there, and only a Dutch oven or "stove" is placed in the front living room, which significantly increases the free living space (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Front. House-yard of A.P. Abakumova, S. Kuzomen, mid-XX century. Photo A. Usova, 2022. The neighboring villages of Varzuga and Kuzomen are characterized by common features of the architectural and structural design and layout of house complexes.

The smaller half of the front part of the hut with one window is called the "side" (unlike the houses of the Onega Pomerania, where the "side" is a separate hut. For example, in the village of Purnema, a winter hut is located behind the entrance hall, opposite a smaller cold cage and directly adjacent to one of the walls to the farm yard). It is usually adapted for a bedroom. In the hall, opposite the porch, a small storage cage is often arranged.

The second half of the house-complex consists of a "back" (summer hut) and a small utility yard. The size and location of the economic part is another difference between the residential buildings of the Tersk coast. If on the Pomeranian and Onega shores the back half of the house is entirely devoted to an extensive household yard with a litter, then in the village of Varzuga they occupy only part of the space. The summer hut is small, often has only 1-2 windows from the end or 2-3 windows on the side facade (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. The back (winter) hut. House-yard of A.E. Zaborshchikova, S. Varzuga (Nikolskaya side), Tersky district, Murmansk region, beginning – ser. XX century . Photo A. Usova, 2022.

Depending on the owners, there may be a second large Russian oven, a Dutch oven, a stove, or there may be no heating at all. The utility yard is located on the 1st floor, it consists directly of a courtyard and a separate log cabin of a barn, while the entrance from the street is arranged at the bottom – without a vzvoz, respectively, there is often no pronounced pow.

Houses in the village of Varzuga were built of pine. Most of them are currently sheathed with clapboard or siding; the main method of connecting logs in crowns is "in the paw". The color of the skin is usually blue, blue, green, beige or yellow. The roofs are covered with metal tiles or ondulin – often in bright colors. Thus, the settlement creates a positive visual image (although modern materials affect its perception as "traditional").

An example of a traditional hut of the Terek Pomors is the restoration project of P.P. Zaborshchikov – the house–museum "Pomorskaya Izba" (1909/2021) (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8. House-Museum "Pomorskaya izba" P.P. Zaborshchikova, S. Varzuga (Nikolskaya side), Tersky district, Murmansk region, 2021 (con. XIX – beginning. XX centuries). Photo A. Usova, 2022.

The type of connection of the residential and economic part is "timber", under a common gable roof. A massive five-wall hut is placed on an average height of the basement. There are 5 windows on the main facade. The pediment is solid with 1 window. The house is notable, first of all, for the recreation of the traditional Pomeranian interior of the late XIX – early XX centuries. The winter hut consists of 2 rooms: an anteroom with a large Russian stove and a clean side (upper room). In the front there are traditional wall benches (without shelves of "polavoshnikov"). The funnels are arranged near the furnace. In the door "men's" corner there is a bed, in the small corner opposite the mouth of the stove there is a "cookware". The red corner is decorated separately. Above the dining table there is an eyepiece, but instead of an iron ring, an ordinary nail (screw) is driven into the mat, to which a pole (the eyepiece itself) with a cradle is tied by a rope (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9. House-Museum "Pomorskaya izba" P.P. Zaborshchikova, S. Varzuga (Nikolskaya side), Tersky district, Murmansk region, 2021 (con. XIX – beginning. XX centuries). Photo A. Usova, 2022.

The back (summer) hut is designed as a small exhibition space with a bed, rugs and objects of female peasant life. Currently, there is no stove in the room, the house was purchased without it, but probably it could stand in the right corner, because there is more space in it, and the "red corner" is located diagonally (Fig. 10). The household yard and the porch are small, compared to the complexes of houses-courtyards of the Onega Pomerania – not less than half, because the log cabin behind the entrance hall is divided into 2 parts: residential (rear hut) and economic. Probably the small size of the economic part is predetermined, including the peculiarities of local animal husbandry. Unlike Onega Pomerania, where peasants kept horses and cows, reindeer husbandry was widespread on the Tersk coast. Deer did not require large haystacks, as well as places in the yard (PMA. Usov A.A. Report on the expedition to the Tersky district. Informant Rogozin Nina Nikitichna, born in 1949, M.R. and M.P. – S. Varzuga, entry 2022). Nevertheless, it should be noted that in the past (XVIII century) only in the Sami society reindeer husbandry occupied a significant place in the management of the economy. In Russian settlements, it was not decisive and played the same role as animal husbandry ^[20]. At the same time, a separate large litter for hay was also not in demand and adapted for storing tools. 

Fig. 10. The back hut. House-museum "Pomorskaya izba" P.P. Zaborshchikova, S. Varzuga (Nikolskaya side), Tersky district, Murmansk region, 2021 (con. XIX – beginning. XX centuries). Photo A. Usova, 2022.

Currently, the decor of the Pomeranian house on the Tersk coast is poorly expressed. Back at the end of the XX century. a large number of carved platbands could be observed on the houses, but now many dwellings are sheathed with clapboard or siding, modern plastic windows are installed in them.

The most widespread are platbands with a pattern of "waves" or trapezoids, which can alternate with each other or with "teeth" in accordance (Fig. 11). Such platbands are typical for the facades of residential huts of sheathed houses. They are usually painted white.

Fig. 11. Platband. Photo A. Usova, 2022.

More complex forms of patterns appear on the window frames arranged on the pediment of the main facade. They are characterized by a more geometrically verified carving pattern, clarity and "flexibility". For example, trapezoids acquire clearer shapes, not just alternating "arcs" appear in the pattern, but "crests" of waves, in some cases even some phytomorphic motifs can be seen in these crests, acquiring the shape of a blooming flower. The platbands on the windows of the pediments may be accompanied by an identical or similar style pattern of carved crevices.

Conclusion

Most of the buildings date from the beginning to the middle of the XX century. The dwellings of S. Varzug are similar in general architectural and structural design to the houses-complexes of the Onega Pomerania, but they have their own distinctive specifics of the planning device. The Onega and Pomeranian shores are characterized by a dwelling with two huts "front" (summer) and "back" (winter), opposite which a cold crate is arranged, behind which, in turn, there is a large two-story utility yard with a litter. The houses of the Tersk coast consist of a "front" (winter) hut with a large Russian stove, with a "side" room (which in the Onega Pomerania is considered part of the "front", as well as an attached "back" (summer) hut adjacent to a small household yard, often without a vzvoz and a pow, almost half of which occupies the frame of the barn. A small cold crate, at the same time, can be located in the hallway, from the opposite end from the entrance door. Such a layout of dwellings looks more advantageous from the point of view of the aesthetic perception of the settlement.

The decorative decoration of the houses of the Varzuga village complexes currently differs little from similar buildings of the Onega Pomerania. The dwellings here are also expressive, first of all, by their shape and silhouette. The decor is simple and concise, and covers mainly the framing of the "eyes" of the house – window frames. Such asceticism is explained by the already well-known assumption about the harsh nature of the Pomors, who valued functionality in the dwelling, first of all decor (PMA. Usov A.A. Report on the expedition to the Tersky district. Informant Zaborshchikov Pyotr Prokopievich, born in 1935, M.R. and M.P. – S. Varzuga, entry 2022).

In the modern Pomeranian settlement, the peasant house of the late XIX – early XX centuries is not so much the most rational form of housing, as the embodiment of carpentry traditions preserved in material form, originating in the architecture of ancient Novgorod. The newest cottage houses are deprived of their "complexity" and largely impersonal.  However, traditional dwellings are the result of the very process of adaptation of Russians in the harsh conditions of the North and the Arctic, in the layout and architectural and structural arrangement they conclude an effective way of combining residential and economic complexes under one roof - an entire peasant estate; through a stingy decor they reflect the mentality of the Pomeranian population.

In conclusion, we note that given the preservation of the continuity of construction technologies, the specifics of the local cultural and natural landscape, the village of Varzuga can be recommended for setting as an object of cultural heritage a "place of interest" at the regional or municipal level of protection, and monuments of wooden architecture are preserved as objects for tourist display.

List of abbreviationsPMA — field materials of the author.

FITSKIA Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences is the Federal Research Center for the Integrated Study of the Arctic named after Academician N.P. Laverov of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.