A typological study of historical mosques in west Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

West Sumatra is an important region in Indonesia in the context of traditional architectural heritage, especially mosques. There are 39 historical mosques registered as cultural heritage monuments in West Sumatra, 31 of which were surveyed for this study. Five had been completely renewed without leaving any trace of the original structure, while the location of one could not be identified. All mosques were mapped and a total of 25 were analyzed based on their architectural elements: (1) floor level, (2) main building material, (3) roof type, and (4) minaret. From the analysis, a typological tendency in the historical mosques of West Sumatra was identified. The discussion in this article focuses on the correlation between combinations of the four architectural elements in relation to their location. As a result, the architectural characteristics of the historical mosques in West Sumatra were identified.