The Long Houses of the Dayak

The Dayak, some of the original inhabitants of Borneo, build long houses on stilts, using ironwood for the structure and tree bark for the walls; the floor are simple planks of wood placed side by side. The length of these houses was for the last century of 110 meters (over 360 feet) and today they generally range from 10 to 70 meters (33 to 230 feet).

On Borneo the long house forms a center for both social life and for rituals. Here people meet to talk after work, and its here the central ceremonies and rituals of the group are performed. In each long house is a central stilt or main post which is the first to be placed in position when the house is built. This post is associated with the ancestor who founded the house has a sacred signifiance; it stands in the center of the house and its looked on as the link between the underworld and the upper world. The long houses were often decorated with representations of water snakes and rhinoceros birds. They were connected with the group’s central creation myth, for water snake is associated with the underworld and the rhinoceros bird with the upper world of the good spirits.

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Aris Mujiraharjo

mjrhrj415@gmail.com

Project Coordinator

Estonian Old Houses of 18-20th Century

Svetlana Dychenko

The Open Air Museum owns the largest collection of national architecture in Estonia. Ours is the only museum in Estonia with the primary goal of collecting and researching countryside architecture. 72 old village structures have been delivered to the museum and rebuilt on location. We hope to continue this work with newer structures of the 20th century. Our other collections supplement the national architecture collection and help to demonstrate the genuine country life of the past.