Annls of Wrsw University of Life Sciences-SGGW Forestry nd Wood Technology No 73, 2011: (Ann. WULS-SGGW, For nd Wood Technol. 74 s.199-205, 2011) Chrcteristics of Decortive Wooden Flooring in the Cstle Museum in Łńcut WOJCIECH KORYCIŃSKI, IRENA SWACZYNA, ANDRZEJ TOMUSIAK, ANNA RÓŻAŃSKA Deprtment of Construction nd Technology of Finl Wood Products, Fculty of Wood Technology, Wrsw University of Life Sciences SGGW Abstrct: Chrcteristics of Decortive Wooden Flooring in the Cstle Museum in Łńcut. The pper presents n nlysis of reserch on decortive wooden flooring in the Cstle Museum in Łńcut. It focuses on the chrcteristics of design, structure nd the wood species used, pying ttention to their ntomic fetures nd the stte of flooring preservtion. Tking into ccount the size of the site nd the modifictions of interiors tht took plce t different moments in time, ll the fetures under investigtion proved to be very diversified. Decortive flooring is present in twenty rooms of the Cstle, in totl there re thirty one different tile ptterns, while six re repeted. In Łńcut, the tiles re mostly solid, with dditionl intrsi; less frequently they hve the form of clssic lyer tiles. Key words: flooring, prquet, pnel, tile, structure, design, Łńcut, cstle INTRODUCTION The floors with intrsi in the cstle in Łńcut re one of the most interesting objects of this kind in Polnd, becuse of their elborte form, high rtistic qulity, diversity, nd most of ll - s set tht hs been fully preserved in its originl stte. Although the flooring in the Royl Cstle in Wrsw or in the Nieborów Plce is definitely more impressive s fr s the design is concerned, those floors exist tody only s reconstruction. The Museum in Łńcut hs over one hundred diverse rooms; the mjority of them re covered with wooden flooring. In twenty rooms decortive flooring cn be found, in the remining rooms there re vrious kinds of plnk prquets nd frieze floors, s well s floorbords. DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS In different rooms there re diverse kinds of tile lyout. They my be plced on the whole surfce, repeting single pttern, in some cses they re surrounded by bordure with rosette in the middle, s in the Rococo Slon nd in the Columned Aprtment, or just hve the rosette, s in the Dining Room over the Gte. The most sophisticted ornments cn be found in the Bll Room tht bosts six different tile ptterns. b c d Fig. 1. Tile from the Mster s Study ( - tile view, b - pttern nd fibre direction) nd from the Slon of the Stte Aprtment (c - tile view, d - pttern nd fibre direction).
The tile design my be quite simple geometricl, using just one (Fig. 1) or couple of wood species (Fig. 2-5) or quite complex - bsed on stylized plnt motifs. b c d Fig. 2. Tile from the Sculpture Gllery ( - tile view, b - pttern nd fibre direction) nd the Chpel (c - tile view, d - pttern nd fibre direction). b c d Fig. 3. Tile from the Entrnce Slon ( - tile view, b - pttern nd fibre direction) nd the Bchelor s Aprtment (c - tile view, d - pttern nd fibre direction)., b Fig. 4. Tile from the Bthroom of the Stte Aprtment ( - tile view, b - tile design nd fibre direction). Fig. 5. Tile from the Bll Room ( - tile view, b - design nd fibre direction). b In Łńcut, in twenty rooms, there re in totl thirty seven tile designs with intrsi, including thirty one tht re not repeted. In nine cses, the tiles hve their pirs tht repet the pttern, yet the wood species re inverted (Fig. 6, 7 nd 8). This solution is used in furniture mking for the Boulle inlys. These were mde by cutting the pttern t the sme time in two (or more) bords of different
wood species or other mterils nd then interchnging the bckground nd pttern elements. The reversed tiles re used for decortive purposes in one of the rooms in chessbord lyout (Ldies Bedroom) or for the decortion of two rooms in n inverted colour pttern (e.g. the Rococo Slon nd the Columned Slon). Fig. 6. Tile from the Boucher Room nd the Corner Slon ( - tile view, b - design nd fibre direction). c Fig. 7. Tile from the Rococo Slon the Columned Slon ( - tile view, b - design nd fibre direction). c Fig. 8. Tile from the Ldies Bedroom ( - tile view, b - design nd fibre direction). The flooring decortion ws creted probbly by dpting the flooring types tht existed before; for this reson, it is often quite inconsistent s fr s its structure nd style is concerned, sometimes it even differs within one single room (Ldies Bedroom). Moreover, there is no reference mde in ny of the rooms to the wll or ceiling decortion. Only in the Billird Room (lso clled the Room of Pintings) the sticks nd the blls included in the decortion identify the function of the room. The designs in the Łńcut Cstle do not mke ny direct reference to the populr French tiles, there re lso no references to the flooring of the neighbouring mnor houses [Swczyn, Kędzierski, Różńsk, Szymczyk, Tomusik, Rżewsk 2010]. FLOORING STRUCTURE The flooring in the cstle is of diverse structure, both trditionl (Mączeński 1953) s well s unusul solutions my be found. b
In some of the rooms, the bottom surfce of the flooring is uneven; therefore it is necessry to pply snd s bse (Fig. 9A). In other interiors, the tiles re instlled on blind floor, which provides them with lot more stbility (Fig. 9B). A B Fig. 9. Mnner of flooring instlltion in the Chpel (A: tile, b snd, c - concrete) nd the mnner of flooring instlltion in the Bll Room (B: tile, b bording, c - ceiling bems, d snd) The ok prquet in the rooms on the first floor hs different dimensions in ech of the rooms, being bout 220-295 mm long nd 110-147 mm wide. All the plnks hve uniform section rdil. On the bottom side the plnks re only rough-hewn nd the differences in their thickness re quite considerble (Fig. 10), both between the individul plnks, s within one single plnk, nd their dimensions rnge between 12 mm nd 35 mm. Fig. 10. Exmple of plnk from the Rococo Slon showing the difference in thickness nd the gps tht ppered s result of wood shrinkge nd n exmple of their compenstion with wooden bttens. b The tpering of the bords nd the uniform rdil section of their top surfce suggest tht the mteril ws cquired by qurtersewing - mnner tht is not very economicl but gives stble timber type [Krzysik 1978]. In ddition, such solution gives interesting esthetic effects thnks to the lustre tht is visible in this ok wood section. Nierówn spodni wrstw posdzki wymgł zstosowni podłoż które dopsuje się do jej ksztłtu djąc jednocześnie dobre podprcie. Dltego klepki ułożone zostły n wrstwie pisku. W slch pierwszego piętr wrstw pisku wynosi ok. 0,5m i jest nsypn bezpośrednio n stropie. In the Chinese Aprtment, slightly modified version of this structure ws pplied. Here, the uneven bottom side of the prquet plnks lso mde it necessry to plce them on snd, yet the lyer is not s thick s in the remining rooms on the first floor, it mounts only to 32 mm. Additionlly, between the flooring nd the bording there re bems, 100 mm wide
nd plced t the intervl of bout 370 mm. The snd is spred on the bording tht is plced on ceiling bems, nd the gps between the bords re filled tightly with strps of linen. The flooring in tht room is in much better stte thn in the Rococo Slon, however it my not be determined clerly if ws the structure tht influenced the stte of preservtion so positively, becuse the visiting route does not led through the Chinese Room. W Pomieszczenich gdzie zstosowno dużą wrstwę pisku widć obniżnie się posdzki w miejscch którędy przechodzą wycieczki. Powodownie jest to przez rozchodzenie się pisku n boki. In cse of the flooring on the ground floor in the Chpel nd in the Mster s Study, where the snd lyer is thin (bout 20 mm), nd underneth it there is stble concrete bse, no chnges cused by the shifting of the snd bse cn be seen. Just s in the cse of the Chinese Aprtment, nother dditionl fctor tht undoubtedly influenced the stte of the flooring positively, is the fct tht they re not constntly vilble to the visitors. W Sli Blowej i Wielkiej Jdlni tfle prkietowe ułożone są n deskowniu spoczywjącym n belkch stropowych. Dje to dużo brdziej stbilną powierzchnie i mimo intensywnego użytkowni tych pomieszczeń powżniejsze uszkodzeni dotyczą jedynie tfli znjdujących się bezpośrednio przy wejścich. Tfle wykonne są z desek o grubości 27 mm ntomist czrny dąb jest wpuszczny w nie n głębokość od 5 do10mm w zleżności od wzoru. Poszczególne klepki są łączone n wpust-wypust ntomist tfle pomiędzy sobą n obce pióro. INFLUENCE OF WOOD SPECIES ON FLOORING USAGE PROPERTIES In lmost ll the types of wooden flooring present in the cstle, the most used species is ok wood. Only the bord floors were not mde of ok, nd in the Bchelor s Aprtment it is present only in the form of drk ok intrsi. Among the cstle flooring there re thirty four tiles, in which severl different wood species were pplied. In the plces tht were more intensely used, it is clerly visible tht different wood species re worn to different degree, which is confirmed by the wer resistnce nd hrdness tests [Swczyn, Tomusik, Kędzierski, Koryciński, Policińsk- Serw 2009]. In the Museum, there re only three tiles tht re mde of just one wood species (in ll of these cses it is ok), wheres the highest number of different species tht cn be found within one single tile mounts to five. In totl, in ll the floors of the Cstle there re seven different wood species: ok, drk ok, mple, wlnut, sh, cherry nd mhogny. STATE OF PRESERVATION AND CAUSES OF DAMAGE In most of the rooms the flooring is well preserved. The most severe dmge cn be observed long the wlking routes of the Museum, which re intensely used. It is visible especilly on the elements mde of drk ok, which tends to crush lot in prticulr in the re of room entrnces. On the first floor, in the Northern wing of the Cstle where the ok prquet ws plced directly on the snd (with no bording), s result of high stresses relted to numerous tourists visiting the Museum, the bse shifted towrds the sides cusing the joint tongues of the plnks to brek. Some of the dmges tht ppered before the wr were provisionlly fixed by fstening the plnks tht hd chnged their position with nils. In the Gret Dining Room, t the end of the room, next to the servnts entrnce, there re mrks left by the brrels with food tht stood there.
In most of the prquets, gps ppered s result of shrinkge of the drying wood; sometimes they re filled with wooden bttens (Fig. 11b). Nowdys, the wooden flooring is mintined by pplying nd rubbing beeswx into it ech yer. Pozytywną rolę w zchowniu dobrej kondycji Łńcuckich posdzek m również obowiązek noszeni przez turystów ochronnego obuwi z filcu co zncząco ogrnicz powstwnie uszkodzeń powstłych przez ściernie i wgnitnie się drewn. In the cse of the flooring where the prquet is plced on snd nd which is locted on the visiting route, restortive intervention ws needed in order to stbilise the bse. SUMMARY Tking into ccount the size of the site nd the modifictions of interiors tht took plce t different moments in time, ll the fetures under investigtion proved to be very diversified. The ntique flooring designs in the Cstle-Museum in Łńcut re diverse, some re geometricl nd others hve complex compositions of stylised plnt ornments. The selection of wood species in the flooring contining intrsi is wide nd focused on esthetic vlues, nd not those relted to the usge. Flooring structure is quite diverse, it my even differ within one single room. The present stte of the prquets nd their intense usge require solutions tht will mke it possible to stop the degrdtion of tht beutiful flooring, while t the sme time still permitting the ccess of visitors to the site. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The project forms prt of reserch grnt number 1374/B/P01/2008/35 regrding the nlysis of design, construction, nd production technology of decortive wooden floors of mnors nd plces in South-estern Polnd. REFERENCES 1. Swczyn I., Tomusik A., Kędzierski A., Koryciński W., Policińsk-Serw A., 2009: Indenttion nd brsion resistnce of decortive wooden flooring of the Cstle in Łńcut [in:] Ann.WULS-SGGW, For. And Wood Technol., no 69. 2. Swczyn I., Kędzierski A., Różńsk A, Szymczyk A., Tomusik A., Rżewsk Z., 2010: Wzornictwo drewninych posdzek w zbytkowych obiektch powitu kolbuszowskiego (Wooden Flooring Designs in Antique Buildings of the Kolbuszow County) [in:] Ann.WULS-SGGW, For. And Wood Technol., no 71. 3. Mączeński Z., 1953: Pordnik budowlny dl rchitektów (Construction Hndbook for Architects). 4. Krzysik F., 1978: Nuk o drewnie (Wood Science).
Streszczenie: Chrkterystyk ozdobnych drewninych posdzek w Muzeum Zmku w Łńcucie. W prcy przedstwiono nlizę bdń ozdobnych drewninych posdzek w Muzeum Zmku w Łńcucie. Przedmiotem zinteresowni był chrkterystyk wzornictw, konstrukcji, użytych gtunków drewn, ze zwróceniem uwgi n jego cechy ntomiczne, orz stnu zchowni posdzek. Z uwgi n sklę obiektu orz przebudowy wnętrz w różnych okresch wszystkie obserwowne cechy okzły się brdzo różnorodne. Ozdobne posdzki znjdują się w dwudziestu pomieszczenich Zmku, w sumie jest trzydzieści jeden niepowtrzlnych wzorów tfli, sześć się dubluje. W Łńcucie spotykmy głównie tfle lite dodtkowo intrsjowne, rzdziej klsyczne tfle wrstwowe. Author s ddress: Wojciech Koryciński Andrzej Tomusik Ann Różńsk Fculty of Wood Technology, Deprtment of Construction nd Technology of Finl Wood Products, 166 Nowoursynowsk str., 02-787 Wrsw, Polnd e-mil: wojciech.korycinski@gmil.com e-mil: ndrzej_tomusik@sggw.pl e-mil: nnmri.roznsk@gmil.com