Architecture

When we talk about traditional architecture in the Danube Delta, our thoughts naturally turn to the well-known Lipovan houses, which can be found in several localities throughout the Delta, but especially in villages like Letea, Mila 23, or Sarichioi. 

They display interesting details such as the longitudinal layout and the orientation of the main façade which, for privacy reasons, is towards the usually flowery courtyard. Lipovan ancestors used only natural materials to build their houses - stone for the foundation, adobe (a mixture of clay, straw and sun-dried manure) for walls, wood for joinery and reeds for roofing.

Most houses were built with 3 connected rooms and a porch and were painted on the outside in white and blue, plus sometimes green. The room toward the road was the most important; here the family stored their valuables, it was the room where significant life rituals were performed and guests were invited. The room in the middle, also called “the hall”, was equally used as passage to the room in the back, where the family lived their everyday live. Over time, this classic structure of the Lipovan house was changed and more rooms were added, to get more space.

A standout element of the interior is the “lejanca”, a heated bed-stove, built as an extension of the fireplace, on which one could sleep during very cold winters while on the outside the pediment is distinguished by its decoration with symbols of Slavic mythology such as stylized flowers, waves or fishes.

Outside the house, on the side or in front, there is also the kitchen (or “kuhnia” in Russian), as well as the steam bath or “banya”, a hallmark for the Lipovans, which was usually built before the house itself.