History closet
It is hard to imagine a modern house without a closet. But it was not always this familiar object we looked the same as today. Cabinet began its history in the early Middle Ages and called it then - the chest, and countless times changed its appearance.
Given the restless way of life in the Middle Ages, from the property is not needed as much comfort as transportability, in the event of war, fire, it can be easily folded into the trunk and carry. In addition to carrying things, trunks and used as a bed and a bench on which the sleeping and sitting, if necessary. Cases also more approximate to the modern concept as used only in churches and built into a special niche.
As the subject of home furnishings such as cabinets began to appear only in the XVI century. In fact, it was the same trunk, only in vertical position. In France, began to appear two-tier lockers, then got spread all over Europe, and "office" - in fact, chests with hinged lid.
Of course, in different cities and countries cabinets looked a little differently. In Venice, for example, case-rooms were decorated with mosaics and inlay. In Italy, were invented lockers "Cassone" - walnut chests with rich carvings, and in Switzerland chests made of aspen or pine. In France and Germany were made from the trunks of oak and decorated them with thread because of the nature of the material, and making ornaments out of wrought iron hinges and locks with ornament.
In contrast to the Italian "Cassone" gothic oak trunks were heavier, wider and higher. The fine carving on the oak was also impossible because of the specific properties of this species, so part of the jewelry chests became overhead iron hinges and locks with iron filigree ornaments.
In the XV century became fashionable French cabinets, "dressuar" (or "postavets", as they were called in Russia). It was actually the same vertically raised trunks form "kredentsa", borrowed from the church cabinets. In the Renaissance, in France, the first double-hulled carved cabinets. At that time, it was all the rage and the perfection of beauty.
In the XVI century wardrobe, put on the plinth, with columns and pilasters on each "floor" and cornices, more like a two-storey building. But in fact it still remained upright trunk, delivered with a side wall which is not even removed sunduchnye handles.
Cases in the more modern sense did not exist until the end of the XVI century, they even began to differ in purpose, but in the XVII century the "rooms" - luxury cabinets for storage of papers and boxes, office with built-in top, upholstered in cloth. Wardrobes will appear only at the end of XVIII century, in Holland, although looking like the façade of the building they are not lost.
As can be seen, to the modern familiar form, we passed a lot of wardrobe changes, remains the only constant is its purpose: wardrobe still stuffed "to opt-out" clothes and other things of daily use.