As I was walking through the streets of the old part of the city I noticed a narrow passage between two of the buildings there.
It was just enough wide for one person but it didn’t lead anywhere. The houses overlooking it had only small windows facing this side, and no doors at all, so I really couldn’t figure out what’s the purpose of it.
The roofs weren’t touching so there was some light coming in from above.
As I was exiting, I noticed a small sign explaining it:
In medieval times, all the houses in the city had thatched roofs, so in case of fire the disaster spread extremely fast. That’s why they’d leave a bit of space between the buildings during the construction.
Now, I’m no expert in firefighting but I think if one of the houses gets on fire, a meter of distance will not protect it, especially if it’s covered in thatch. But it’s certainly better than not leaving any space at all.
And that’s how a passage like that looks from afar - it’s not the same one but it’s similar.
Most passages today are closed. They’re still quite easy to recognise even if they’re walled up all the way.
They sometimes have narrow windows that are out of proportion with the neighbouring houses which typically had three larger windows on every floor in middle ages.
I hope you learned something new. I certainly did and all of a sudden I started noticing these little passages everywhere!