Chamko’s Barn in Šumiac, central Slovakia (source: Ján Krošlák)
Perched below one of Slovakia’s most fabled peaks, a crumbling wooden barn once teetered on the brink of ruin. Today, Chamko’s Barn (Chamkova stodola), a photogenic remnant of traditional mountain architecture, is drawing crowds – and surviving, thanks to hundreds of donors who refused to let it vanish, reports The Slovak Spectator’s sister publication My Bystrica.
Just eight years ago, the outlook for Chamko’s Barn was bleak. Heavy snowfalls in the mountainous Horehronie region of central Slovakia had pushed the wooden structure to the edge of collapse. Once used to shelter livestock, the barn was best known for its cinematic backdrop – Kráľova hoľa, a peak deeply woven into Slovak folklore. In 1971, a neighbouring stable was even set alight for a film, opening up the iconic view that helped make the barn one of Slovakia’s most photographed landmarks.
But its popularity couldn’t shield it from decay – until a grassroots crowdfunding campaign rallied nearly 600 donors to save it. With more than €8,000 raised, the roof was rebuilt with 1,800 wooden shingles and the structure stabilised.
Though the barn remains empty, visitors today can learn about its past from on-site leaflets, which trace its changing role over the decades – from a relay station for postal horses in the 1930s to an object of architectural interest. During restoration, workers discovered a 1918 Hungarian coin wedged into a carved wooden joint – a ritual common in traditional Slovak construction, believed to protect the home and mark its age.
The leaflets recount other superstitions once linked to housebuilding in the region: cats locked inside overnight to appease spirits, coins hidden in the foundations, and Easter willow twigs burned to ward off storms. While the barn’s own origin remains partly mysterious – some of its logs were recycled from even older structures – it now stands as a quiet witness to centuries of folk wisdom, community resilience and architectural adaptation.
Today, thanks to volunteers and the backing of local tourism organisations, Chamko’s Barn continues to inspire painters, photographers and hikers alike – less a relic, more a living reminder of a region that refused to forget its roots.
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