Viewing the Cultural Trace of the Mosque Building in the Cirebon Sultanate

Abstract

Indonesian nation has a long historical record, not only about the physical resistance in the struggle for Indonesian independence, but also the culture of its dynamic society and continues to evolve with the changing times. The history of the past brings Indonesian culture into contact with and against the outside culture which then affects various aspects of people's lives. Acculturation, assimilation, and even shock culture also coloring the cultural changes caused by external cultural influences. Included in the field of building architecture, one of which is building a mosque located in the Sultanate of Cirebon, which will provide many interpretations of cultural forms through visual media. The emergence of ports in Cirebon become entrance of various cultures in Cirebon such as Arab and Chinese, in addition to Hindu culture, Buddhism which is already much more rooted in public life. Therefore, studying the development of culture through building a mosque becomes an interesting thing to do.The method used in this study is the historical method. This method uses four stages of work namely heuristics, criticism, interpretation, and historiography. Heuristics is the stage of source collection, especially visual sources. Criticism is the stage of source selection or often referred to as the source verification stage. Visual analysis is the stage of visual analysis of visual sources that have escaped criticism (visual facts). Meanwhile, the interpretation or stages of visual elements interpretation or can also be referred to as the stage of visual explanation. Then the stages of historiography is the stages of writing or presentation of history. In addition to historical approaches that emphasize the process aspects are also used social approaches that emphasize the structural aspects. Theories or concepts used in between, social history, and cultural history.The results of this study is a description of the traces of the past culture as a form of acculturation with the outside culture that entered and developed in Cirebon. The building of the mosque becomes very representative since not many more historic buildings are left in Cirebon. Examples of mosque building objects studied in this study are the Pejlagrahan mosque. A mosque which is the oldest mosque in the Sultanate of Cirebon. This study will describe what kind of culture is left from the corners of the mosque building visually. So hopefully this study is enough to explain traces of past culture that is still inherent in the life of the people of Cirebon.

Keywords: Culture, Building, Mosque, Visual