LONTIOK HOUSE FROM RIAU PROVINCE

After travelling through Sumatra (though not all of it), this time, I travelled to Riau province. Here's a little story of my attachment to Riau. So, there are two of my siblings who decided to settle in Riau since I was a kid. Well, the unique thing is, in the past, my cousin said Riau was still included in the province of Sumatra. However, I don't know since when, but Riau became its own province. Its location is indeed bordering Central Sumatra, anyway. So, I don't suspect that Riau was once part of Sumatra.

However, I won't ramble on about Riau, because my focus is on the design and architecture of traditional houses from the province,

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BALAI SELASO JATUH TUNGGAL AND LONTIOK HOUSE

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According to our tour guide, this balai selaso jatuh tunggal is a dwelling that is not for living, but for traditional ceremonies or important meetings, for example; general village community meetings or deliberations.

• The majestic gate

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The four-metre-wide, six-metre-high archway is dominated by green, golden yellow, ivory yellow and dark brown on the roof. In addition to the typical Riau carvings, in the centre of the gate hangs a small symbol of the province consisting of a series of images: chains, rice, cotton, krises and ships.

• Lontiok House

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Entering the gate we are immediately treated to a stilt building with a high roof model in bright yellow colour. This is the lontiok house in question. Seen from the side, there is a window with a golden-coloured carved fence. The shutters are painted brown. Uniquely, the walls are accented with lines resembling a wide woven fabric. The accent from the wall to the roof is patterned with white, green and red lines with yellow as the base colour of the wall. Meanwhile, the reason why the lontiok house is also made in a stilt house mode, just like other stilt houses in other areas, is to avoid flooding and fruit animals, the fibre under the house can be used as a cattle drum, etc.

Looking from the front, the roof is curved to the side. and the front covers the stairs. If later we visit West Sumatra, especially the Padang area, this lontiok house has a roof structure similar to the Gadang house from West Sumatra.

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For the stairs, said my tour guide, the number of steps on the lontiok house is generally an odd number, this is a belief of the local community. If you pay attention, the wall structure also leans outward. This makes the structure of the lontiok house very similar to the Gadang house. 

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My tour guide also explained that inside, the room is still divided into approximately eight parts, unfortunately, we could not go inside, because there was repair work going on. So, to satisfy my curiosity, I also searched for detailed information about the parts inside the Lontiok house through gugel. So, if you're as curious as me, just search for it in your usual browser!

For the Lontiok house review, that's all for now. Sorry if my information is incomplete and lacking in detail, hopefully next time ... I can write a better review. Thank you for patiently reading my article. Have a nice day for y'all

Titis N

_{Hi, I am the child of the universe, I like to read books with various genres. I was born in the city of batik but can't draw batik yet. I want to be a novelist, but my works are only short poems that are included in anthology books.}

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