Chardak Explained

A chardak (Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian: чардак|italics=no, čardak) is an old typical house in the Balkans. It is derived from the word cardak, which is a component of Ottoman Turkish house design.^[1] This term, which is also called sofa, denotes an open hall of a house's upper living floor.^[2]

Description

A chardak is timber-framed and usually include a hayat.^[3] The design has been described as "Greek-Oriental," Southern European," and "Mediterranean". It has a fortified ground floor and a wooden upper floor. This dwelling was used as a protective small fort.

Chardak can also refer to the space – a part of the central hall area – that connects the rooms of the house.

Chardaks were also used as fortifications in the early modern period.

References

• Милан Крухек: Крајишке утврде хрватског краљевства тијеком 16. стољећа, Институт за сувремену повијест - Библиотека хрватска повјесница. Загреб, 1995.

44.8556°N 21.0947°W

Notes and References

1. Book: Couroucli, Maria. Balkan Heritages: Negotiating History and Culture. Marinov. Tchavdar. 2017. Taylor & Francis. 9781472467249. Oxon. 96.
2. Book: Architectural Elements of Traditional Settlements. International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments. 2008. 7.
3. Book: Daskalov, Roumen Dontchev. Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Four: Concepts, Approaches, and (Self-)Representations. Mishkova. Diana. Marinov. Tchavdar. Vezenkov. Alexander. 2017. BRILL. 978-90-04-33781-7. Leiden. 550.