The cottage and pigpen feature the original architectural form, wall and roof structure, and interior layout; the interior of the cottage is strongly reminiscent of Saxon houses and is characterised by its smoke chambers.

History

The cottage and pigpen were erected around 1870 as part of a (small) three-building fishing farm. The buildings were built of demolition materials, which may indicate their translocation within the village of Dąbki. The house was renovated in the early 20th century (chimneys were removed) and in the 1920s-1930 (interior walls were partly modified; brick ceilings were installed above the kitchen and hallway). Before 1939, the owner of the farm was Karl Bahr (full-time fisherman), who had two boats to catch fish on a lake and the sea and 6 hectares of land. After 1945, the farm was used by a farmer who cultivated about 14 hectares of land.

Since 1980, the cottage has not been inhabited, and the pigpen served as a storage area; the historical barn - cowshed was destroyed in a fire in 1979. In 1983, the cottage and pigpen were purchased by the Regional Museum in Koszalin and translocated to the plot in Młyńska Street.

Renovations to the cottage included replacing the ground plates, part of posts, top plates, ceilings in the hallway and kitchen, and repairs to the damaged parts of the framework. Only 20% of the original structure of the pigpen has been preserved due to the scale of destruction. After a full restoration, the fisherman’s farm in Dąbki (cottage and pigpen) is the location of the permanent ethnographic exhibition entitled “A Cultural Island. The Village of Jamno near Koszalin”.

Description

Originally, the fisherman’s farm was located in the eastern part of the village of Dąbki. After its translocation to the Museum in Koszalin, it is situated in 37/39 Street, in the vicinity of Podgrodzie Street; the original layout of the farm and orientation of buildings have been retained. The location of a manure pit and the barn-cowshed, which has not survived to this day, was marked with stones within the farmstead.

The house is a wide-front cottage (highly reminiscent of the narrow-front Saxon cottages), was built by local carpenters using the traditional post-and-beam construction technique, and features an accumulation of historical structures. The building was built on a rectangular floor plan, measures about 14 m by 10 m, has two entrances (from the west and north), one storey, a basement underneath some of its sections, and is covered with a three-sided half-hip roof with skylights. The half-timbered walls have a wattle-and-daub (clay) infill, are plastered and whitewashed, and feature an exposed frame of the wooden (oak) structure, combined with one level of transoms, with braces at the corners. Renovations included replacing ground plates, 5 posts and 1 top plate. The roof is made up of a rafter and collar structure with intermediate purlins and double queen-post supports, and is thatched with reed. The ceilings are made of exposed beams and clay. The floors are clad with board; the floor in the hallway and kitchen is made of brick. The original joinery has been preserved: singe- and double-leaf doors, panelled doors, two- and four-wing windows, frame windows, and windows divided by muntins. The façades are characterised by varying axial partitions reflecting the functional interior layout. The southern façade is four-axial and rhythmical; the other façades are two-, four-axial and arrhythmical. The façades are accentuated by the “drawing” of a wooden structural framework (painted black), contrasted with the plastered and whitewashed spaces between the transoms. During the renovation work and translocation, the original interior layout was documented, but the general interior layout from the period before demolition has been retained. The cottage features a two-and-a-half-bay layout, two ceremonial chambers in the southern end section of the building, two hallways at the western and northern entrance, two chambers and a kitchen with the ground floor section of the chimney. The attic with two smoke chambers separated by half-timbered walls has been used as a storage area.

The pigpen is a small livestock building, has one room (originally with boxes), currently adapted for exhibition purposes; a substantial part of the structure underwent reconstruction. The building was built on a rectangular floor plan, measures about 7 m by 5 m, has one storey, no basement, and is covered with a gable roof. Its half-timbered walls have wattle-and-daub (clay) infill with plastered and whitewashed spaces between the transoms and a blacked structural framework. The roof features a rafter structure and is thatched with reed. The ceilings are made of exposed wooden beams. The floor is made of brick. The façade is accentuated by a black-and-white lattice of the half-timbered structure, with exposed framework and whitewashed spaces between the transoms.

The structure can be visited during the opening hours of the Museum (10 a.m. - 4 p.m.) at a charge.

compiled by Waldemar Witek, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Szczecin, 29-10-2014.

Bibliography

• Dalska-Sienkiewicz U., Chałupy rybackie we wsi Dąbki. „Koszalińskie Zeszyty Muzealne”, 1975, t. 5”, s. 239-259.
• Sienkiewicz J., Zagroda rybacka z Dąbek nr 37. Początki skansenu w Koszalinie. „Koszalińskie Zeszyty Muzealne”, 1983, t. 13”, s. 109-130.