The art of laying stone on stone
As you drive through Konavle, it is impossible not to notice the long stone walls that extend from the sea and fields up to the tops of the mountains, and those that stretch across the entire length of Konavle, even around the smallest sinkholes of the Konavle mountains. These are agricultural dry stone structures that are built without any sort of mortar, through the ancient art of laying stone on stone. In 2016 the art of dry stone construction received the status of intangible cultural heritage of the Republic of Croatia from the Ministry of Culture. Two years later, UNESCO also included the same art on a representative list of the intangible heritage of humanity.
Dry stone structures carry invaluable cultural and aesthetic value. On a symbolic level, they are monuments of perseverance, strength and survival of many generations who have lived in coexistence with nature. Dry stone construction is mostly a folk craft in which natural and local materials were used. It was most present in the architecture of the peasant population in rural areas as it ensured protection for livestock (the most important form of nutrition) and community safety against natural and social dangers. Material for dry stone walls and other stone objects was always found in the immediate vicinity, so the appearance of dry stone structures depends on the stone that is available in the surrounding area.
In Konavle, the centuries-long rule of the Republic of Dubrovnik, since the 15th century, resulted in great economic progress, especially in agricultural production. The production of various crops that thrived in Konavle was particularly encouraged. Everything manifested itself through the emergence of new landscape structures in the human environment, which today form the cultural landscape of Konavle, and the foundation of its spatial identity. After the emergence of grapevine disease in France and other leading Mediterranean countries at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, in Croatia, as well as in Konavle, there followed an expansion of the construction of terraces for planting vines. This “golden age” lasted only about twenty years, until phylloxera disease also arrived on the Croatian coast. Recovery from phylloxera was followed by another blow for Dalmatian agriculturalists. The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy opened the door to its market to Italian wines and restricted Dalmatian exports with a famous legal clause. Since then, to this day, dry stone terraces have been neglected a great deal in terms of agricultural processing and cultivation.
The restoration of dry stone structures, their use and promotion, contributes to the development of Konavle in terms of cultural landscape. Many dry wall workshops have been held in Konavle in the last few years. Among them, the workshops held at the Moba festival stand out, where in 2018, a traditional dry stone house was built in cooperation with the Dragodid Association, which promotes the skill of dry stone construction throughout Croatia. In October 2020 Konavle will host the 17th International Dry Stone Congress.
By: Anita Trojanović