ART OF DRYWALL CONSTRUCTION

From prehistoric periods in the Adriatic-Dinaric area this technique was used to build walls, subwalls (for terraced gardens, roads, railways, terraces), houses, churches, fences, wells and roads. Interesting buildings are smaller ones for various purposes, field houses with a circular layout. The most common examples of such construction are dry stone walls, fences for the protection of domestic animals, for the protection of fields from erosion and winds, and often serve as boundaries along the edges of agricultural areas and roads.

Dry stone walls appear in various forms along the entire area of the Adriatic-Dinaric karst. In the past they had a distinctly functional purpose, and today they increasingly serve as decorations in the landscape. A special type of drywall construction are sheep pens called mrgari for sorting and milking sheep in the southernmost part of the island of Krk, on pastures in Baška, Jurandvor and Batomalj, and on the neighbouring island of Prvić. Their layout is reminiscent of a flower, and similar ones still exist only in Wales (UK) and Iceland.

The Dragodid Association works intensively on the protection, restoration, learning and transfer of drywall construction skills, which lists, documents and restores drywall heritage, holds lectures and construction workshops for all age groups, especially children, pupils and students of various professions, and compiles manuals about drywall heritage.

Drywall construction is characteristic of the wider Mediterranean area, and in 2018, on a joint proposal of Cyprus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Spain and Switzerland, was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Assets of Humanity.