| Rumah Gadang is one of Minangkabau's symbol, the | | | | exception being the being the rear longitudinal wall |
| most common housing forms have traditionally been | | | | which is a plain lattice woven in a chequered pattern |
| wooden and raised on piles, built of locally gathered | | | | from split bamboo. The roof is of a truss and |
| materials, with steeply pitched, roofs. Their culture is | | | | cross-beam construction, and is typically covered with |
| matrilineal, with property and land being passed down | | | | thatch from the fibre of the sugar palm (ijuk), the |
| from mother to daughter, while religious and political | | | | toughest thatch material available and said to last a |
| affairs are the province of men. The Minangkabau are | | | | hundred years.The thatch is laid in bundles which can |
| strongly Islamic, but also follow their own ethnic | | | | be easily fitted to the curved, multi-gabled roof. |
| traditions, or adat. Minangkabau adat was derived | | | | Contemporary homes, however, are more frequently |
| from animistic and Hindu beliefs before the arrival of | | | | using corrugated iron in place of thatch. Roof finials |
| Islam, and remnants of animistic beliefs still exist even | | | | are formed from thatch bound by decorative metal |
| among some practicing Muslims. As such, women are | | | | bindings and drawn into points said to resemble |
| customarily the property owners; husbands are only | | | | buffalo horns - an illusion to a legend concerning a |
| tolerated in the house at certain times and under | | | | bullfight from which the 'Minangkabau' name is |
| special conditions, and must return to their sisters' | | | | thought to have been derived. The roof peaks |
| house to sleep. | | | | themselves are built up out of many small battens |
| The external walls of a rumah gadang are covered | | | | and rafters. |
| with various motifs, each having a symbolic meaning. | | | | The women who share the house have sleeping |
| A communal rumah gadang is a long house, | | | | quarters set into alcoves - traditionally odd in number |
| rectangular in plan, with multiple gables and | | | | - that are set in a row against the rear wall, and |
| upsweeping ridges, forming buffalo horn-like ends. | | | | curtained off by the vast interior space of the main |
| They normally have three-tiered projections, each | | | | living area. Traditionally, large communal rumah gadang |
| with varying floor levels. They are broad and set on | | | | will be surrounded by smaller homes built for married |
| wooden piles that can reach as high as 3 meters (10 | | | | sisters and daughters of the parent family. It is the |
| feet) off the ground; sometimes with a verandah | | | | responsibility of the women's maternal uncle to |
| running along the front face of the house which is | | | | ensure that each marriageable woman in the family |
| used as a reception and dining area, and as a sleeping | | | | has a room of her own and to this end will build |
| place for guests. Unlike the Toba Batak homes, | | | | either a new house or more commonly additionally |
| where the roof essentially creates the living space, | | | | annexes to the original one. It is said that the number |
| the Minangkabau roof rests on conventional walls. | | | | of married daughters in a home can be told by the |
| Cooking and storage areas are often in separate | | | | counting its horn-like extensions; as they are not |
| buildings. | | | | always added symmetrically, rumah gadang can |
| The house is largely constructed of wood; an | | | | sometimes look unbalanced. |