The compositional and functional study of the Liv fishermen's homesteads

Abstract

The clusters of the homesteads of the old Liv fishermen from Cape Kolka to Staldzene keep only some of the mosaic grains from the pride and glory of fishermen's homes which existed until the war. In the 30s of the 20th century, the farming and everyday life of the coastal people is marked only by separate outhouses - the cattle-shed, fishing net, boat and firewood sheds, smokehouses, cellars. They are witnessing the bygone farming by the sea as the boats, fishing nets, plank-ways, and people who have the skill to take a boat offshore have disappeared. Today, it is difficult to name settlements as the Liv villages because the number of the disappeared homesteads and lost people in the last 50 years is so huge that it can only be considered as a distant reflection of the situation it was until 1940. Today, this coastline is functioning as an open-air museum, in which the recreation and tourism industry is developing. Only a rare fishing boat slides into the sea at night, landing the fishing nets and collecting them in the morning, so maintaining a still alive skill in fishing and fish processing. Thanks to today's rigorous legislation, small fragments of the historical tradition of farming and building are being slowly recovered. By studying them during the expedition, there is an opportunity to get information about the compositional and functional criteria of the old fishermen's homesteads.