Pew, a modern piece of furniture as old as time

The benches and pews are among the oldest pieces of furniture. However, the answer to the question of where and when they were first created is one of those that even the most eminent specialists in the field of furniture cannot provide.

Perhaps the first benches, like many other equipment and objects, were created by accident or as a result of observation of nature. It is possible that hundreds or thousands of years ago, when a man felled a tree, he noticed that the branches growing at some distance from each other kept the trunk above the ground. It was only necessary to cut them to the appropriate length and to reduce to a minimum part of the trunk with branches growing on the other side.

 

Or maybe, pulling a boat to the edge of a river or lake, and moving it on round logs, he came to the conclusion that such a structure, consisting of a flat seat placed on legs, could be a useful equipment? Or was it otherwise? There are many hypotheses. One thing is certain: the bench has made a huge career and it can be said without the slightest exaggeration that this piece of furniture has conquered the world.

Wooden and stone benches of antiquity

Depending on the social status of the owner, the bench could be a piece of board set on four pegs or expensive equipment that the carver had worked on for a long time. It could have a backrest or resemble an armchair, as it was equipped with elbow rails and a decorative backrest. Such benches were occupied by Greek and Roman patricians, sitting in amphitheatres and circuses, as well as when exercising their functions in the senate.

 

Figure 1 Ancient Rome Lectus

The Byzantine Empire took over the decorative benches and evolved the wooden cabinets with a raised top. It should be assumed that there were also benches intended for sleeping that were lower and wider than those used for sitting.

 

Figure 2 Byzantine Design of Furniture

 

A multifunctional piece of furniture

Now let's move to the Middle Ages. In this era of building great cathedrals, the church pew becomes a common piece of equipment. It is used for sitting and sleeping, it can be simple or decorative - like stalls where monks sit for prayer. It can also play a double role: a seating unit and a cupboard, as it has a small door on the side that allows you to hide small items under the seat. It is often only a wide top supported by crosses and forms a set with the table. Such benches and tables were part of the equipment of taverns, inns, journeymen in manors and castles, as well as monastic refectory.

 Figure 3 Middle Ages Inn

 

In the Renaissance, the bench is no longer as ubiquitous as it used to be. However, it still works well as a home appliance, combining the function of a chest and a sitting and sleeping furniture. It is called a cassapanca and it is a wooden frame enclosed on three sides by high backs.

 

Figure 4 Italian Casapanca

 

With time, the cassapanca is replaced by chairs and beds, but this does not mean that the benches are disappearing. The become a part of church stalls, which are often wonderful works of woodcarving, typical for Baroque and Mannerism. These monastic pews are no longer simple places to sit and kneel while saying monastic prayers, but a show of the skill of the chisel and the fantasy of the carver. Decorated backs, pediments, steps and canopies are the stage where stories from the Old and New Testaments take place.

 

 

 

Figure 5 Church Stalls in Venice

 

For Members and Students

The eighteenth century brought another type of benches - parliamentary benches. These are simple pieces of furniture, without any special decorations, usually placed amphitheatrically in the parliament meeting room. Senators were usually entitled to special chairs.

Another new equipment appeared in the 19th century - a school bench. Although school desks existed before, they were not equipped with desktops. Students wrote with stylus on slate tablets held in their lap. With the spread of paper and the appearance of books and notebooks on a larger scale, there was a need to build new benches. They had seats with backrests, raised desktops, under which books and notebooks are hidden, and there is a place for an inkwell on the desktop.

 

 

Figure 6 19th Century School Bench 

 

The onset of modern times

The century of steam and electricity brings historical styles in art and architecture in vogue. Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance pews and stalls appear in churches. Neo-style benches and other furniture find their way to many institutions, e.g. university buildings.

The twentieth century is the time of various types of benches related to various areas of life. They are an element of equipment in a rural room, where they are used for sleeping and sitting - they sometimes have a handrail and armrests, decorated with ornaments or plain. It is also the time of the benches in sports stadiums, which have survived to this day without any special changes.

The school desks have changed too - they no longer had tilt desks, were smaller, and metal pipes were used for their construction. Only the seats, backs, writing desks and shelves for briefcases and satchels placed underneath them remained wooden. Older models of benches had a sloped desktop with an inkwell hole and a pen or pencil groove next to it. Over time, school desks were replaced by tables and chairs, and old ones were moved to stoves or museums.

Different - and yet the same

Contemporary times are a kind of bench renaissance. We can see them not only in temples, sports halls, stadiums, parks and squares, they also appear in our apartments and houses. Sometimes it is a bench-chest, placed in the hall, sometimes a kitchen bench based on a folk style, and sometimes a low bench-table with a wooden or glass top. Benches are sometimes placed in allotment gardens and in front of summer houses.

Years pass, the lifestyle, fashion and interior design trends change. Many pieces of equipment have disappeared forever, but the coffee table has remained, changing its appearance over the centuries. Seemingly different - and yet still the same.