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UDK 94:[398.341:643.01](477.85)”18/19″

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

The date the article was first submitted to the publication 28.11.2025

The date the article was accepted for publication after review 23.01.2026

The date of publication (publication)

DISTRIBUTION AND MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE HAYBARRACK («OBOROH») IN THE CARPATHIANS: CULTURAL AND ECOLOGICAL ASPECT

BOYKO Ihor

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3828-1835
  • Doctor of Philosophy,
  • Researcher at the Institute of Ethnology
  • of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
  • Department of Social Antropology,
  • 15, Svobody Avenue, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine
  • Contacts: e-mail: I.Boyko@nas.gov.ua

LACH Janusz

  • ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8451-5957
  • Doctor of Philosophy, lecturer, University of Wroclaw,
  • Faculty of Earth Science and Environmental Management,
  • Department of Regional Geography and Tourism,
  • 32, Z. Cybulskiego Str., room 152, 50-205, Wroclaw, Poland,
  • Contacts: e-mail: janusz.lach@uwr.edu.pl

Abstract. Introduction: Despite the fact that the Haybarrack (oborog) is of great importance in the traditional culture of the highlanders and plays a significant role in the creation of the Carpathian cultural landscape, the consideration of the oborog in the entire Carpathian area remains practically ignored by scientists, and its ecological aspects have been little studied. The Haybarracks are one of the most important traditional structures in the Carpathians for storing hay, straw and sheaves. As in the Haylofts, the Haybarracks can store not completely dried fodder and sheaves, as well as load and select its contents in portions; mowers spend the night in the Haybarrack, shepherds hide in bad weather, that is, the Haybarrack is a multifunctional structure that is convenient both in the estate and in the meadows and fields. In the exploration, the authors set themselves the goal: to analyze the distribution and morphological features of the Carpathian Haybarracks, to characterize the mechanisms of cultural adaptation to adverse conditions. The object of the study is the ravines, the subject: cultural and ecological aspects of their morphology. The methodological basis of the article is: ecological, historical and genetic and cross-cultural analyses. The work is written on the basis of the authors’ field material collected during 1998—2025, in the villages of Vyzhnytskyi district of Chernivtsi region, Kosiv, Kalush and Verkhovyna districts of Ivano-Frankivsk region, Stryi and Sambir districts of Lviv region, Uzhhorod, Mukachevo, Khust, Tyachiv and Rakhiv districts of Zakarpattia region, as well as in Slovakia: Иadca district of Ћilina region, districts: Humenne, Medzhilaborce, Snina, Stropkov of Preљov region,literary sources and archival materials (photo archive of the Institute of Ethnology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and the archive of the Institute of Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine). We determined the range of the Haybarracks in the Carpathians, identified the ecological factors that contributed to the spread of the moorland and influenced its morphological features, analyzed the evolution of the moorland in the Carpathians, and identified the specific features of moorlands in various natural and cultural regions.

Keywords: oboroh, Carpathians, oborozhyny, cross-adaptation, podyna, obrubyny, vertical development.

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