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Watch two ancient crafts come back to life. In this Aged Skills episode, we travel to Kommern, Germany in 1963, where skilled craftsmen tackle the same timeless challenge in two completely different ways: one layers hand-cut stone slates into striking fish-scale patterns, the other builds up clay and long rye straw into a weatherproof wall covering that's been protecting homes for centuries.
From trimming decorative cross slates and rosettes on a wooden stake, to dipping straw bundles into clay slurry and pressing them row by row into a gable wall — this footage captures a level of craftsmanship that has almost completely vanished from the modern world.
Filmed at the Rhineland Open-Air Museum in Kommern, this is traditional building at its most honest: no cement, no shortcuts, just skill, patience, and materials pulled straight from the land.
Original source material:
Das Handwerk der Leiendecker
Verkleiden der Wetterwand mit Stroh
Published by Alltagskulturen im Rheinland
© LVR-Institut für Landeskunde und Regionalgeschichte
CC BY 4.0
