The great wooden sailing ships of South Sulawesi, still built by hand on the beach.
The pinisi is a two-masted wooden schooner built by the Konjo, Bugis and Makassar peoples of South Sulawesi. For centuries such ships carried trade across the archipelago.
Master builders in Bulukumba still build them by hand without written plans. The art of boatbuilding was inscribed by UNESCO in 2017, and many pinisi now sail as liveaboards around Komodo and Raja Ampat.
Good to know
- UNESCO intangible heritage (2017)
- Built without written plans
- Bugis and Makassar seafaring
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