Pendopo
Encyclopedia
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
nese architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
; a large pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
-like structure built on column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s. Either square or rectangular in plan
Floor plan
In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan, or floorplan, is a diagram, usually to scale, showing a view from above of the relationships between rooms, spaces and other physical features at one level of a structure....
, it is open on all sides and provides shelter from the sun and rain, but allows breeze and indirect light. The word pendopo is a variant on the Sanskrit word mandapa
Mandapa
A mandapa in Indian architecture is a pillared outdoor hall or pavilion for public rituals.-Temple architecture:...
('hall'). The Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
writer Multatuli
Multatuli
Eduard Douwes Dekker , better known by his pen name Multatuli , was a Dutch writer famous for his satirical novel, Max Havelaar , which denounced the abuses of colonialism in the Dutch East Indies .-Biography:Dekker was born in Amsterdam...
in his colonial
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
reformist novel Max Havelaar
Max Havelaar
Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company is a culturally and socially significant 1860 novel by Multatuli which was to play a key role in shaping and modifying Dutch colonial policy in the Dutch East Indies in the nineteenth and early twentieth century...
described the pendopo as "next to a broad-rimmed hat, an umbrella or a hollow tree, a pendopo is undoubtedly the simplest representation there is of the concept of 'roof
Roof
A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
'".
Derived from ancient Javanese architectural elements, pendopo are common ritual spaces primarily intended for ceremony, and also for a variety of purposes such as receiving guests in the compounds of wealthy Javanese, and even as cottage industry work spaces.
History
The oldest surviving images of ancient Java vernacular architecture appears in BorobudurBorobudur
Borobudur, or Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument near Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues...
reliefs, among others the stepped roof type pendopo. They once sheltered the institutions of ancient Javanese kingdoms, such as law courts, clergy, palaces, and for public appearances of the king and his ministers. In 9th century Ratu Boko
Ratu Boko
Ratu Boko is an archaeological site known to modern Javanese as Kraton Ratu Boko or Ratu Boko's Palace. Ratu Boko is located on a plateau, about three kilometres south of Lara Jonggrang Prambanan temple complex in Yogyakarta Indonesia...
complex near Prambanan, there is traces of square elevated stone bases with umpaks, stones with hole to put wooden pillars on it. The similar structures also can be found in 14th century Trowulan
Trowulan
Trowulan is a village in Mojokerto, in the Indonesian province of East Java. It is surrounded by an archaeological site covering approximately 100 square kilometres. It has been suggested it was the site of the eponymous capital city of the Majapahit Empire, which is described by Mpu Prapanca in...
dated from Majapahit era, where square brick bases with umpak stones suggest that some pendopos once stood there. Because the pillars and the roof was made from wooden organic material, no trace of the pendopo roof remains. The pendopo with faithful Majapahit brick-base style can be found in 16th century Kraton Kasepuhan, Cirebon
Cirebon
Cirebon is a port city on the north coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is located in the province of West Java near the provincial border with Central Java, approximately 297 km east of Jakarta, at .The seat of a former Sultanate, the city's West and Central Java border location have...
, as well as 17th century Kota Gede
Kota Gede
Kota Gede also known as Pasar Gede is an area in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. One of the old capitals of Mataram, the area now has an archaeological site which contains the remains of the kraton , the royal cemetery, and royal mosque of Mataram, dated from the late 16th and early 17th...
, Yogyakarta. These evidences suggests that the design has not changed much for over a millennia.
They remain fundamental components of Javanese kraton ('palaces') with European influences often being incorporated since the 18th century. The majority of pendopo are constructed from timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
but masonry
Stonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
versions are in existence such as used in the Kraton Kanoman in Cirebon
Cirebon
Cirebon is a port city on the north coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is located in the province of West Java near the provincial border with Central Java, approximately 297 km east of Jakarta, at .The seat of a former Sultanate, the city's West and Central Java border location have...
. Wealthy modern day home builders, in attempting to design homes that draw on traditional Javanese experience of space, have dismantle, transported and re-assembled pendopo forming modern-traditional hybrid homes.