Fences in Domestic Context of Urban Manor (on Tomsk and Tara Material)

The article analyses fences as an element of the planning structure of an estate complex. Two problematic aspects are considered: 1) whether fences constitute a necessary attribute of an estate; 2) what are functional and structural features of fences. The study is based on archaeological and ethnographic sources which cover the period of fences' existence since the Middle Ages till today. The authors draw on the materials of Tomsk and Tara which preserve the archaeological context of their history, whereas the comparing of the data allows to see the variety of fences and the ambiguity of their interpretation as a mandatory element for setting estate's borders. The need for the construction of the yard fence depended on the degree of the urban development order, planning, location of an estate in the settlement, practical use, prosperity and desire of the owner. Fences constituted a secondary feature: a housing complex without a fence was still a courtyard. Comparing two urban settlements of almost same age: Tara (1594) and Tomsk (1604) illustrates the uneven process of change in the historical look of big and small cities. Tara yards with one- or two-storey residential houses and back constructions are fenced and have got a gate as a necessary element. The fenced estates with the gates retain quite an ethnographic image of Tara. Unlike Tara, there are almost no estates of the 19 to the beginning of the 20 century in Tomsk and the wooden architecture monuments that are preserved here lose their historical environment, including, first of all, such elements of its as the gates and fences. The fence in the yard structure used to fulfill the function of planning, demarcation, and of barrier as well as the security function. Fences could separate one estate from another or from the street, the "clean" yard from the "back" one, the "cattle" yard from the garden. The design of the fences was defined by their location and purpose and varied a lot. The internal fences were the picket ones as well as the lighter ones which are thin pole and wicker fences. The external fences were made of "ostrozhina" that is of logs with a sharp apex and of "zaplot" that is of horizontally stacked logs fixed in the slots of vertical pillars. The yard fence in a medieval city was a common although not always a mandatory element of an estate. From the second half of the 20 century, in the course of urbanization and the spread of big multi-storey houses, yard fences almost disappeared as an element of planning and demarcation, barrier and security from the design of residential areas. However, in small cities, fences continued to be in use and to constitute a recognizable attribute of yards. Today, fences are reintroduced in big cities as an indispensable part of elite estates as well as an element of the reconstructed historical environment.

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