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Revision as of 11:04, 22 August 2007 by Javasean(talk | contribs)(←Created page with ' '''Pariangan, West Sumatra''' Pariangan is a historically important village located in the regency of Tanah Datar, West Sumatra province, Indonesia. Th...')
Pariangan is a historically important village located in the regency of Tanah Datar, West Sumatra province, Indonesia. The town is located on the lower slops of Mount Merapi, a highly active volcano, about fifteen kilometres from the market-town of Batu Sangkar. This small village is of great cultural and historical importance to the Minangkabau people who comprise the vast majority of the population of West Sumatra province.
Local legend states that Pariangan is the oldest of all royal Minangkabau villages, founded in the fourteenth century by Prince Adityavarman when he established a small breakway kingdom in the area. Today Pariangan is one of the best-preserved traditional Minangkabau villages, containing many rumah gadang (traditional houses) with roofs shaped in the 'buffalo-horn' design. Many of the houses feature beautiful examples of traditional wood-carving and walls woven from rattan. The town is centred around a 200 year-old mosque, recognised as the oldest surviving example of a traditional Minangkabau mosque. Alongside the mosque is a hot spring, where communal bathing still occurs to this day. At the top of the village is the large burial mound and tomb of Tantejo Gurhano, an early Minangkabau king. The whole village is of exceptional heritage value and has been conserved as a national monument.
