Seri Menanti Royal Town

Seri Menanti is the royal town of Negeri Sembilan, tucked in a valley of paddy and hills in the Kuala Pilah district, and the reason to go is Istana Lama - the old palace, built between 1902 and 1908 by two Malay craftsmen, Kahar and Taib, entirely of timber and put together with wooden pegs and joints rather than nails. It stands four storeys with a tower, on eighty-odd carved pillars, and served as the royal residence until 1931; it is now a museum and you can walk through the rooms. The architecture is Minangkabau, matching the culture of the state, whose people came from Sumatra and whose buildings carry the upswept buffalo-horn roofline. The current palace, the royal mosque and the royal cemetery are all in the same small valley.

History

The Minangkabau came to the wider area of Negeri Sembilan in the 14th century and moved inland to Seri Menanti around the 17th century. Raja Melewar, who arrived in 1773 and was proclaimed the first Yamtuan Besar at Rembau, later moved his palace here, and it remains the royal capital (Wikipedia, Seri Menanti).

Highlights

• A nail-free timber palace - Istana Lama, 1908, pegged and jointed throughout.
• Eighty-odd carved pillars - holding up four storeys and a tower.
• Minangkabau rooflines - the upswept horn shape across the town's buildings.
• The royal precinct - the current palace, mosque and cemetery in the same valley.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Before you go

The museum is modest and captions are thin in English. The current palace is a residence and not open. It is a drive from anywhere and public transport is poor.

Nearby

Kuala Pilah is close; Seremban is west and Gunung Datuk south.

Key facts