2017Aruban Houses - Set

The typical old Aruban houses which are so characteristic of the island, can everywhere be visited. The current typical Aruban houses consist of a combination of various construction traditions, among others from The Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France.

The way the Indians made their construction, namely “build on the wind”, has also played an important role. In doing so, the narrow sides of the house focused on the direction of the trade winds. The houses are therefore also always almost east-west oriented. They were also preferably built on top of a hill. Nowadays the traditional Aruban residential house, built of stone and in particular with kinked saddleback roof and bright orange tiles is known as a "cunucuhouse".
These houses usually also have a chimney and a cistern.
The chimney is a very important element, as previously there were no gas installations and the meal had to be prepared with firewood. There were in the past no water installations and one had to have a cistern to catch the water during the rainy season and to use this during the period of drought. The houses were mostly built of limestone and other stone and then whitewashed.

Some parts of the houses were made of tree trunks and twigs which were braided and combined with clay (torto). The characteristic of these old cunucuhouses is that the façades are usually decorated with wall decorations, which often have a symbolic meaning and indicate on health and happiness. As far as we know, these unique houses are nowhere else on the other islands to be found.

The decorations as "branches and birds" is to express hope in a fertile child rich marriage (large family), while "the star-decoration" must keep away evil from the house. These houses sometimes also had a doorway which is equipped with a "saya cu djeki" (door with top and bottom sheet). Typical was also behind such a house a wooden or stone "convenience cottage" or "WC" with a wooden secretion seat on a barrel or over a pit.