Hand Drawn Longhouse Scene Picture Borneo Iban Artist

A longhouse is rather like a block of terraced houses with many, often closely related, families living under one common roof.  The size of a longhouse is determined by the number of doors it has.  Each family living in it will have one door, or bilek, opening onto a front corridor.  A ten-door longhouse will, thus, have ten families living in it.  Rather like a small village except that it is all under one roof.

The enclosed corridor, or Tawa', which runs along the length of the entire longhouse, is pierced by the doors of each individual home, or bilek. Portraits of the families living in each bilek are usually hung outside their main door.  The Tawa' is the focal point of longhouse life.

It is at once a place for relaxation and recreation as well as a children's playground, a council chamber for debating communal matters, a court house even!  Family or communal ceremonies are held there. During such functions, there can be well over a thousand people being hosted in that corridor. You can see a lot of items there, such as gongs, Hornbill statue, cannons and some animals.