Introduction

The first inhabitants of today's Garnic did not have it easy. They came here between 1827 and 1828 to settle the border areas of the Habsburg Empire. After a journey of several weeks, they found themselves in inhospitable mountains with long and harsh winters where bears and wolves lived. They had to cut down the centuries-old trees of the local forest in order to plant fields and build places to live. At first, they lived in pithouses, inconvenient wooden huts sunk into the ground. Many people died in the first year. After a few years, the people could afford to build the first log houses with stone foundations. It was only thanks to the extremely hard work of the locals that a prosperous Czech village gradually emerged. In the last two decades of the 19th century, people started building with more durable materials, such as bricks or compacted clay with chuff or straw, which can still be admired in Garnic today.

The educational trail through the traditional architecture of Garnic shows what the original buildings looked like, what materials and structures were used to build them and how they were decorated. By exploring old technologies and authentic constructions, we get to stay in touch with the work of the ancestors. With this knowledge, we can understand what is valuable about Garnic’s buildings and what we need to preserve for the future generations.