Documenting Eastern Europe's Endangered Wooden Heritage

Across Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region, wooden architecture has long been a fundamental part of both rural and urban landscapes. From Croatian farm buildings and Ukrainian churches to Ottoman-era houses along the Bulgarian-Serbian border and historic timber buildings in Istanbul, these structures embody centuries of craftsmanship, local knowledge, and community identity. Yet many now face unprecedented challenges, including depopulation, neglect, environmental pressures, natural disasters, and conflict.

Through a series of EWAP-supported projects, researchers have worked to document these vulnerable traditions before they are lost, creating detailed records that will support future conservation, research, and public engagement.

In Croatia, two projects focused on preserving some of the country's most significant wooden architectural landscapes. EndangeredWooden Architecture of Banovina/Banija, Pokuplje and Posavina Regions documented historic wooden buildings across regions that contain Croatia's highest concentration of traditional timber architecture. These landscapes are characterised by wooden farmhouses, agricultural buildings, ancillary structures, and rural settlements that developed in close relationship with the surrounding river valleys, forests, and agricultural land. For generations, these buildings provided homes, workplaces, and centres of family life, forming a distinctive cultural landscape that is now increasingly threatened by depopulation, neglect, and the devastating earthquake that struck the region in 2020. The project developed a multidisciplinary methodology for documenting both buildings and cultural landscapes while also raising public awareness of their significance.

Point Cloud and AutoCad of Chardak, Molve, Croatia.  
https://doi.org/10.60491/ewap2010lg022026005

A second Croatian project, Documenting Chardak House forPreserving Endangered Wooden Structures along the Drava and Danube Rivers, focused on the distinctive wooden chardak structures once common in rural communities. Traditionally used for storing and drying corn, these elevated buildings demonstrate local construction skills and decorative woodworking traditions. The project created a database covering approximately forty-five villages and recorded surviving examples in detail, while workshops with local craftspeople helped preserve knowledge of traditional construction techniques.

Two projects in Ukraine documented wooden heritage at a particularly challenging moment in the country's history. Guardians of the Forest: Recording Ukraine's Wooden Churches carried out comprehensive architectural and historical studies of fifteen nationally significant wooden churches. Built between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, these churches have long served as centres of worship, gathering places for local communities, and powerful symbols of regional identity. Using laser scanning, photogrammetry, measured surveys, archival research, and interviews, the project created detailed records of structures that represent some of the finest examples of Ukraine's sacred wooden architecture. At a time when cultural heritage faces heightened risks from conflict as well as long-standing threats such as fire, neglect, and inappropriate repairs, this work provides an essential record for future conservation and recovery efforts.

The project Saving Western Ukraine's Wooden Buildings documented endangered nineteenth- and early twentieth-century wooden structures, including residential buildings, public architecture, religious buildings, and examples of the distinctive "shtetl" urban landscape. Several of these buildings are unique survivals of regional building traditions and face serious risks from deterioration and ongoing conflict. By creating architectural and ethnographic documentation alongside a digital database, the project has established an important resource for future preservation initiatives.

Romania's Endangered Old Wooden Churches at the Crossroads of Eastern Europe: a 3D Documentation Project focused on a remarkable tradition of ecclesiastical architecture that reflects centuries of cultural and religious exchange across Eastern Europe. Dating from the sixteenth century onwards, Romania's wooden churches employ a variety of construction techniques, including horizontally stacked log structures, timber-framed systems, wattle-and-daub buildings, and earth-lodging forms. While the wooden churches of Maramureș are internationally recognised through their UNESCO World Heritage status, many of the more than 1,400 surviving churches are located in small rural communities where abandonment and deterioration pose increasing risks. Through detailed 3D documentation of twenty-six endangered churches, the project has created a lasting digital record of these important monuments while also establishing a regional technology hub to support future training and heritage documentation initiatives.

https://doi.org/10.60491/ewap1026lg043025027

Along the border between Bulgaria and Serbia, the project Surveyof Vernacular Architecture along the Bulgarian-Serbian Border examined surviving timber housing compounds in remote mountain villages that once formed part of a shared cultural region. Following the political divisions of the twentieth century and decades of economic decline, many of these settlements have experienced significant depopulation. Yet they still preserve remarkable examples of Ottoman-period timber architecture, characterised by verandas, finely carved wooden details, and a close relationship between indoor and outdoor space. The project documented not only the buildings themselves but also stories, customs, and folklore associated with them, including traditions surrounding household spirits and family life.

Moving to Türkiye, Documentation of Wooden Architecturein World Heritage Istanbul, Zeyrek focused on endangered timber buildings within one of Istanbul's most historic neighbourhoods. Situated within the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Historic Areas of Istanbul, Zeyrek's wooden houses offer important insights into the city's social and architectural history. Through detailed documentation, structural assessment, archival research, and interviews with master craftspeople, the project explored not only the buildings themselves but also the changing lives and communities associated with them.

Timber buildings in Istanbul. 
https://doi.org/10.60491/ewap3145sg032026004

Together, these projects reveal the remarkable diversity of Eastern Europe's wooden heritage, from rural farmsteads and sacred landmarks to historic urban neighbourhoods and borderland communities. By documenting not only the buildings themselves but also the craftsmanship, traditions, and cultural knowledge embedded within them, EWAP-supported researchers are creating vital records that support conservation, research, and public engagement while helping to safeguard these increasingly vulnerable architectural traditions for future generations.