| STONE HUTS
SQUARE-HOUSE
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STONE HUTS In Istra and the Karst, small square or roundish stone huts used to be built in fields, vineyards, terraces and folds enclosed by dry-stone walls. In them, farming tools and, occasionally, arable crops were held. Shepherds found shelter from storms or scorching summer heat in them. The Karst huts were built of the surplus limestone, the so-called dead stone that had been removed from arable land and meadows. The huts, for which no mortar was used, are of different circular shapes. At the top they end with a cupola and only rarely exceed two metres in height. The Istran huts were built - again without any binding material - of marl, the fragile grey and bluish sandstone. They were covered with gable roofs made of thin stone slabs, placed on wooden roofing. These huts were built in distant fields and vineyards, where farmers often spent the night when seasonal work had to be carried out. In many of them a simple fireplace was therefore made. Very seldom a storey was built in them for the sleeping purposes. |
