Tyrolese Architecture 
A CHARACTERISTIC COURTYARD 
To characterize this dwelling architecture 
would be not to mention positive attributes, 
but rather to call attention to an endless 
diversity resulting from the tact that the 
Tyrolese builders have not aimed to follow 
any particular style; in fact, they have been 
altogether untrammeled. Nowhere else, so 
much as here, has the dominance of types 
held so little sway. The traditions of a 
mountain people are free, and their art knows 
EASTERN TYROL 
is the strong thread that binds together 
divers factions and the people of many dis¬ 
tricts separated by natural barriers. Beyond 
this unifying influence variety and individ¬ 
uality have full play. Each house is dis¬ 
tinct, sufficient unto itself and unlike another. 
Personal conceits as well as local beliefs and 
superstitions can be readily traced in the 
eccentricities of architecture, some of which 
bid one pause and eagerly inquire. It was 
the contrast we have mentioned is enhanced; 
and again, by the introduction oi an inset 
balcony within this gable-face, still more 
beauty and variety is obtained. The houses 
here illustrated at St. Lorenzen and at Cor¬ 
tina show this feature in its usual form; 
and in a hamlet near Klausen may be seen 
another method, frequently followed, of con¬ 
structing a balcony at the base of the roof 
under the eave. 
no fixed rules. Nor is their art a conscious 
possession. Religious faith so dominates 
the Tyrolese mind that the little else which 
issues therefrom is fantastic, if not pathetically 
puerile. Eleine thought the Tyrolese “hand¬ 
some, gay, honorable, brave and unfathom- 
ably homes;" and he remarked with more 
cynicism than truth, “ They are a very 
healthy race, perhaps because they are too 
stupid to know how to be ill.’’ Catholicism 
45° 
