5 - One Archipelago Three Narratives: On the Canon Domestification Practices of Nusantara Architecture

In his Le Carrefour Javanais (Javanese Crossroads/Nusa Jawa Silang Budaya) Denys Lombard introduced three major foreign cultural influences which would later helped shaping up the diverse culture of modern Indonesia. As he decisively mapped out the spreading process of these so called –borders of Westernization, Islamization, and Indianization– the cultural products produced by these influences were by no means stayed frozen. Whereas cultural canons absorbed from its original roots dynamically evolving into distinctive entities, the three were also collided to one another to create new domesticated eclectic mixtures. And architecturally speaking, these unique architecture style can be best observed on the design of its houses of worship.

This presentation will exhibit short comparative studies on some key temples, mosques, and churches in the region, constructed in between 7-20th century CE. The exhibition will focus on: (1) the design duplication-to-domestication aspects, which as a whole made up its regional canon evolution process; and (2) the heterogenic architectural crossover, practiced in the design of these supposedly monotheistic houses of worship.