This photo-montage has been a matter of discussion among the editors. The virtual house is not an exact reproduction of an existing house but is a manipulated image, some of the elements in the virtual house is therefore not entirely correct, we have also not been able to establish if the sound from the surrounding rainforest  is 100% correct. I have taken the decision to present the virtual house in order to create interests in the splendours of Nias and also to recreate an ambience of the magnificent place that the chief’s house on Nias was and is. Any criticism on account of this decision should therefore be directed towards me and neither the National Museum of Denmark nor any other involved in this project.

The virtual house has been constructed in Photoshop 7.0 and FrontPage 6.0 with the use of Ho Teng Lin’s photographs from 1927.

Let me end by saying that the construction of the virtual house did cost me some sleepless nights but in the end filled me with infantile pleasure, not experienced since constructing sandcastles alas a long time ago on beaches bathed in eternal sunshine of a childhood memory.

Jesper Kurt-Nielsen 2003: jkn@europe.com

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