Haus Tambaran Architecture

Haus tambaran architecture is the tradition of ancestral spirit houses built by peoples of the East Sepik region of Papua New Guinea, known in Tok Pisin as haus tambaran, or spirit house. Its most recognizable form features a tall, elaborately decorated front entrance wall from which the ridge pole slopes steeply down toward the rear of the building, in some examples continuing all the way down to the ground so that the roofline itself becomes the building's dominant feature. The Sepik peoples are renowned for the painting and carving skill displayed on these religious structures, and the form has carried into modern civic life: the National Parliament building in Port Moresby is modeled on traditional haus tambaran architecture and appears on Papua New Guinea's fifty kina banknote. The tradition has become less common as Christian fundamentalism has spread through the region.