Page 968 - Proceedings Collega2023

Figure 23 Figure 24
Front and Right Elevations (FAE, 2021) Rear and Left Elevations (FAE, 2021)

Interviews, Observation and Survey

A few individuals identified as experts in the cultural and architectural attributes of Istana Jahar
were interviewed. The interviews acquired data from the museum experts on Kelantanese culture,
traditional Malay architecture, and the palace. It dealt with the palace change of function and how these
changes affected the place attachment, regarded as the architectural phenomenology. Discussions
revolved mainly around the intangible factors that influenced the current running of the palace. The
information gathered during this process includes the reasoning behind ornamentations, the process and
reasoning behind all constructions made to the palace, the space functions, and the impact and effect the
palace had on the surrounding areas and communities (FAE, 2021). The history of the palace came with a
deeper understanding of the use of the palace’s ornamentation, traditional motifs, functions of space, and
changing history of Istana Jahar. This process ran concurrently with the observation and survey modes.

Findings and Analysis
The Istana Jahar has exhibited a place that is rich with cultural and architectural heritage that

touches the physical, emotional, mental, and some spiritual senses of the visitors. Through these
attributes, a sense of place has been created. The experience is holistic, giving an identity to the already
established cultural heritage and iconic architecture. The main lesson one can learn from looking back at
the past is that life moves on, and ‘change’ is its only constant. As Tabraham (2006) claims, people work
to provide a future for the past because they believe that the past has something important to offer the
future. Istana Jahar experienced this phenomenon, conserving and preserving whatever cultural attributes
were possible. In that mode, the place attachment of the palace is still intact. Accordingly, it can be claimed
that ‘heritage conservation’ is a process that should consist of two main bases: first, the preservation of
‘tangible’ (physical) remains to be passed over to future generations, and second, the management of the
change of the ‘intangible heritage’, which are basically the cultural activities taking place in present-time
so that the main defining cultural values of each community are maintained and conserved throughout
time. Istana Jahar has demonstrated that although the function of the palace has changed, the new spatial
function carries with it a sense of nostalgia to re-create the place attachment of the architecture. In the
same sense, Tiesdell, Oc, and Heath (1996) describe preservation, or what they call ‘pickling’, as mainly
concerned with limiting change, while conservation is more about the inevitability of change and the
management of that change.
Phenomenologically, the palace has changed mainly in its intangible cultural values, although the
physical part of it remains the same as discovered through a survey and interviews with experts. The

International Conference on Local Wisdom of the Malay Archipelago (COLLEGA 2023) Page - 955 -