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Brunei is a famous country in Southeast Asia. It has been a nation for 35 years. However, before Brunei becomes an independent country, the people had started to construct their representative house. Their unique housing types has attracted many people’s attention.

In the 8th century, Brunei began to settle. Therefore, there is a long history about Brunei architecture. There are three different kinds of architectures of Brunei, they are residential construction, religious construction, and palace construction. Both the religion and geography will influence the style of the architectures. Because most of Brunei citizens believe in Islam, and the state religion is also Islam. Many architectures have Islamic style.

= History = Brunei is a famous country in Southeast Asia and has been a nation for 35 years. The people began to settle in the eighth century far earlier before Brunei becomes an independent country. In the 15th century, Islam spread and the Sultanate was established. From the 18th century to 20th century, Brunei was colonised by England and Japan. On January 1, 1984, the sultan declared that Brunei had become a completely independent country. After independence, the government of the sultan vigorously promoted the policy of "Malay, Islamisation and Monarchy", consolidated the rule of royal, mainly supported the economy of the Malay and other indigenous people, and strictly maintained the islamic doctrine while carrying out modernisation. Brunei officially joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on January 7, 1984, and joined the United Nations in September, becoming the 159th member state.

= Natural Environment =

Geography
Most of coastal part are plains, and the interior part is mountainous. Higher terrain in the East and more swamp land in the West. Brunei is situated in southeastern Asia, northwest of Kalimantan Island, bordering the South China Sea in the north, Sarawak State in Malaysia in the southeast and west, and separated by Limbang in Sarawak State into two separate parts. The coastline is about 162 kilometers long, with 33 islands, covering a total area of 5765 square kilometers. It has a tropical rainforest climate.

River System
Although Brunei is a small country, there are several rivers in Brunei, among which the larger rivers are the Belait River, the Tutong River, the Tamburon River and the Brunei River. The water area ratio accounts for 8.6% of the total area.

The Belait River is the largest river in Brunei. It originates in the mountainous area bordering Brunei and Sarawak, Malaysia. It runs from southeast to northwest and runs through the whole area of Belait District. Finally, it is injected into the South China Sea. It is 32 km long and farmers grows rice in the valley basin. The estuary is swampy, and the channel is partly dredged and navigable. Tutong River flows from south to north through the territory of Tutong District and into the South China Sea. The Brunei River also flows from south to north, passing through Brunei-Muala District and into the sea near the capital city of Sribaga Bay. The water of the river is salty. The Tamburon River originates at the junction of southern Tamburon District and Sarawak, Malaysia. It runs from southeast to northwest through Tamburon District and finally flows into Brunei Bay. In addition, there is a Limbang River, which mainly flows through the Limbang area of Sarawak, Malaysia, between Tamburon District and Brunei-Muala District. It also injects Brunei Bay from south to North in Brunei-Muala region.

= Common Characteristic of Architectures = In the 8th century, Brunei began to settle. Therefore, there is a long history about Brunei architecture. There are three different kinds of architectures of Brunei, they are residential construction, religious construction, and palace construction. The four representative architectures are Kampong Ayer, Jame Asr Hassanal Bolkiah, Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, and Istana Nurul Iman. Even though they are constructed in different regions of Brunei, they share similar architectural styles. Since the state religion of Brunei is Islam, many architectures in the country have islamic features. The most typical feature of islamic architecture is its tendency to hide behind high walls and keep people's attention about indoors. The dome is the most representative of islamic architecture. Doors and Windows are the form of pointed, horseshoe, or leafy arches. Islamic architecture is also known as "veil architecture" because beautiful landscapes such as courtyards and houses are often not visible from the street.

= Four Types of representative Architectures =

Kampong Ayer
The Brunei River flows past the downtown area of Sribaga Bay, forming a broad bay. People start to build houses over the water, thus many houses form the water village. All kinds of water houses supported by stone pillars and covered with wooden boards are all over the banks of the Brunei River. As early as 1521, these maze-like water villages on the river left a deep impression on the Ferdinand Magellan  expedition team who first visited Brunei. The water village is situated on this wide water surface, covering an area of 2.6 square kilometers. These waterborne houses are numerous and outdated in appearance, but all residents enjoy modern facilities.

There are about 30,000 inhabitants and it is said that it has a history of more than 600 years. Kampong Ayer is one of the largest traditional water villages in the world. And Antonio Pigafetta characterised this water village as the ‘Venice of the East’ in 1521.

More than a thousand years ago, Brunei was full of primitive forests, beasts, insects and snakes. In order to be safe, Brunei people came up with the idea of building houses on water, using mangroves which available at the water's edge to build houses, thus the original water village was formed. The first Brunei kings spent their lives here and were buried on land after their death, so the water village was regarded as the birthplace of the kingdom by Brunei people. By the 1940s, Kampong Ayer began to use new materials. It used to be easy to rot by using tree trunks as piles. Now most houses use cement piles as bases, and metal materials such as iron sheet are used for roofs.

Around 1956, Kampong Ayer began to electrify. Water for living and natural gas for cooking are supplied by pipelines passing through land. Walking into the water village, you will be surprised by the modernisation of furnishings: all kinds of household appliances, sofas, carpets on the ground, wallpapers on the wall. If you don't look out of the window, you may forget that the these houses are built over the river.

Apart from living in the village, there are schools, mosques, post offices, fire brigades, clinics, village committees and other public institutions, forming a quite unique community. It has become a must-see place for foreign tourists and one of the important creative themes of local painters and photographers.

The main means of transport in Kampong Ayer is a wooden speedboat that is more than 5 meters long and more than 1 meter wide. It does not slow down when passing through the bridge piles, which makes the tourists feel scared. The residents of the village have long been accustomed to it.

Jame Asr Hassanal Bolkiah
It is the largest royal mosque in Brunei and was built in the 1990s by Brunei's 29th sultan. The roof of the great mosque has 29 golden arches and is made of 45 kilograms of gold. In the 13th century, Islam spread to southeast Asia, and Brunei was one of the many theocratic sultans in the region. This mosque locates on the main road of Hassanal Bolkiah in Seri Begawan City, it was built with a huge amount of money donated by the current sultan of Brunei.

There are 29 resplendent and magnificent domes in this architecture, they were built in memory of the history of 29 Sudanese ruling dynasty. And there are four 189-foot minarets are decorated with blue and white mosaics, a 60000-square-foot chapel, which can accommodate 3500 people at the same time. The niches in the direction of Mecca are decorated with black marble and gold-plated tiles. The huge chandeliers are made of Austrian fine crystals and 24K gold, and many 24K gold stars are decorated at the top of eight outdoor columns. There are two prayer halls in the mosque, which can accommodate 5,000 Muslims to pray at the same time. It is said that the hall contains the largest manuscript of the Koran in the world.

Outside the prayer time, visitors can visit the mosque. To enter the mosque visitors need to take off the shoes, the woman needs to wear a special black robes in the temple.

Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque
Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque is built in 1958 and is one of the most beautiful mosques in Southeast Asia. To commemorate the achievements of Omar Ali Saifuddien of Sudan who has ruled the country for 17 years since Brunei was found. It is not only one of the most striking and beautiful mosques in Southeast Asia, but also a symbol of the people's devout Islamic faith in Brunei and a landmark of the capital city of Sri Bagawan.

Apart from the large and small golden vaults, the main building of the mosque is white, which is particularly striking and plain against the colourful surroundings. The selection of materials for the mosque is very sophisticated. Although the whole building looks integrated, in fact, in order to achieve the best use and appearance, building materials were carefully selected from all over the world. For example, the paved marble is from Italy, the wall-built granite is from China, the stained glass and crystal chandeliers are from Britain, and the carpets are imported from Belgium and Saudi Arabia.

The whole building is tall and solemn. The huge round golden top and hollowed ivory steeple are even more magnificent and heroic. It is said that all the gold roofs are inlaid with 3.3 million pieces of gold. If these pieces are laid flat, they are 520 square meters in size.

The mosque is surrounded by lake. The lake is as quiet as a mirror. A stone boat imitating Brunei's ancient boat floats in the clear lake. The trees are flourish, forming a beautiful natural picture.

Istana Nurul Iman
The Istana Nurul Iman is the largest palace in the world and the residence of the Sultan in Brunei. It is said that there are more than 1700 rooms in Istana Nurul Iman, where the state banquet is held. Citizens can visit this palace every year, but only open for three days, they are Brunei's National Day (February 23) or the Eid Festival after the end of Ramadan. The current sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, is popular among his country. So the portraits of kings and queens hang in almost every public place and even in every home in Brunei. The palace is full of islamic colour, and Malay style herringbone roof, huge dome, shining gold are the palace symbols. = Reference =