The Gadang House in West Sumatra, 1900's

Photo: Jean Demmeni/Universiteit Leiden

The photo above is of a Gadang (large) House in West Sumatra circa 1900's. This house is also called the Bagonjong House. This house is usually built on a plot of land belonging to an extended family and occupied together as well.

Minangkabau is a matrilineal ethnicity, therefore the ruler of Gadang House is also a woman. Women who have husbands get a room of their own, older women and children get rooms near the kitchen and teenage girls who don't have husbands get a shared room. Meanwhile, unmarried men live in a surau (praying room) outside the house.

From the photo above, Minangese men can be seen in front of a Gadang House, nearby there is a Rangkiang or rice barn and a surau for worship and a place for bachelor men to live.