History
The Moorish-style palace, which is now a museum located 120 kilometres (75 mi) upstream of the Siak river in Pekanbaru was built by the 11th sultan, Syarif Hasyim Abdul Jalil Syarifuddin of Sultanate of Siak Sri Indrapura in 1889. The architecture of the palace has European influences that blend harmoniously with the Malay and Moorish elements. Before constructing the palace the Sultan traveled Netherlands and Germany, even some of the furniture was brought from Europe.
There is a myth related with the foundation. It is said that while the Sultan and his dignitaries were discussing the project, suddenly appeared a white dragon on the surface of the river Siak. The presence of the dragon was interpreted as a sign of blessing of the project and auspicious for the greatness of the kingdom. To immortalize the dragon, the Sultan made it the official emblem of the kingdom. The pillars of the palace were decorated with ornaments in the form of dragons. [2]
The palace contains royal ceremonial objects, such as a gold-plated crown set with diamonds, a golden throne and personal objects of Sultan Syarif Qasyim and his wife, such as the "Komet", a multi-centennial musical instrument which is said to have been made only two copies in the world. Komet still works, and is used to play works by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Strauss.
Siak Palace has Malay , Arabic and European architecture. The building consists of two floors. The lower floor is divided into six courtrooms: The guest lounge, the living room of honor, the male living room, the living room for women, one room on the right is the courtroom, also used for the party room. The upper floor is divided into nine rooms, serves to rest the Sultan as well as the guests of the palace. At the top of the building there are six eagle statues as a symbol of courage. While on the court yard can still be seen eight cannons spread to various sides of the palace yard, then on the left rear of the palace there is a small building that was used as a temporary prison . A courtroom, the "Balairung Sari" (the flower room) and royal cemetery also part of palace complex.
Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located in the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. Until 2004 the province included the offshore Riau Islands, a large group of small islands located east of Sumatra Island and south of Singapore, before these islands were split off as a province in July 2004. The provincial capital and the largest city of Riau is Pekanbaru. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. The total area for Riau province is 87,023.66 square kilometres (33,600.02 sq mi), which stretches from the slopes of the Bukit Barisan to the Strait of Malacca. Riau has a wet tropical climate with average rainfall ranging between 2000 and 3000 millimeters per year, and the average rainfall per year is about 160 days. Riau is currently one of the richest provinces in Indonesia and is rich in natural resources, particularly petroleum, natural gas, rubber, palm oil and fibre plantations. Extensive logging and plantation development in has led to a massive decline in forest cover Riau, and associated fires have contributed to haze across the larger region. Riau is considered part of the Malay world. It is currently considered as the cultural center of the Malays in Indonesia. Nevertheless, Riau is considered a very diverse province, as it is inhabited by many ethnic groups, such as Malay, Minangkabau, Chinese and Batak. The local Riau dialect of Malay is considered as the lingua franca in the province, but Indonesian, the standardized form of Malay is used as the official language and also as the second language of many people. Other than that, different languages such as Minangkabau, Hokkien and varieties of Batak languages are also spoken.
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