VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Toweren Uken people in Takengan, Central Aceh, Aceh province have cultural heritage that holds a noble historical value. It’s called ‘Reje Baluntara traditional house’. It is the building where the King of Baluntara has lived for generations. This building is in the form of a house on stilts made of wood. Uniquely, the building does not use many nails. The wood used is made like a 'knock down' interlocking and locking each other.

If you enter this traditional house, the atmosphere is very dark, because there is no electricity here. In addition, the existing windows are never opened. If you pay attention, almost on every wall and wood in the building, there are various Gayo filigree carvings. This type of carving can also be found on Gayo filigree (traditional) fabrics. The typical carvings can be found in the foyer, namely on wooden poles (vertically) and the top of the inner wall (horizontally). In this building, there are carvings with philosophical content in each of its visual constructions. On the walls, there are various openwork motifs, such as puter tali (multiple gyre), emun mupesir (spreading clouds), and emun berkune (branched clouds).

Reje Baluntara traditional house is also called ‘Umah Edet Pitu Ruang’ or the Seven-Room Traditional House. The number of rooms in the building consists of four rooms, a kitchen and two foyers each for men and women so that the total is seven rooms. If you look inside the building, there are four rooms of equal size (the king's parents’ room, the king's room, two children's rooms for men and women), two porches and one front porch (lepo). In front of the traditional house building, there is a black stone resembling an inscription. It is divided into two parts; on the right and left, there is an inscription of the genealogy of the King of Baluntara who once inhabited the traditional house.