Roofing in Belarus

Belarus is a largely flat, forested country whose traditional village house was a log building with a thatched, two-pitched roof.

Climate and hazards

Belarus has a moderately continental climate with cold, snowy winters and warm summers. Snow load and moisture are the main concerns for roofs; fire was the historic danger in thatched villages.

Roofing history

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the typical Belarusian peasant house was a log building of two parts, a heated living room and an unheated entrance porch, under a two-pitched thatched roof. Floors were of earth or clay, and a large stove heated the house. Entire houses and farmsteads of this kind, together with churches, a school, a windmill and other buildings brought from different regions, are preserved at the Belarusian State Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life near Strochytsa, outside Minsk.

The Mir Castle Complex, begun at the end of the 15th century in the Gothic style and later extended in Renaissance and Baroque styles, is one of the country's best-known historic buildings. It suffered severe damage in the Napoleonic period and was restored at the end of the 19th century.

In the Soviet period, corrugated asbestos-cement sheet (shifer) became a common rural roof across the Soviet republics, whose chrysotile-cement industry was among the most developed in the world. See shifer.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Log house with thatched gable roof, with a cold porch and a heated living room.

Notable roofs

• Mir Castle Complex (UNESCO World Heritage Site).
• Belarusian State Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life, Strochytsa.

Sources and gaps

Information on Belarusian roofing practice, statistics, codes and domestic roofing manufacturers: published information is limited.