Airai Bai (Palauan meeting house)

A bai is a traditional men's meeting house from Palau, a small island nation in the western Pacific. In old times every village had one, because it was the most important building in the village. People gathered there to talk, decide things and share stories.

The bai at Airai, on the southern coast of Babeldaob island, is the oldest one still standing. Sources give its age as somewhere between about a century and 200 years. It is a rare chance to see how Palauans built and decorated their most important houses. Because every village once had one, this surviving bai gives a rare look at a building tradition that shaped daily life across Palau.

What is a bai?

A bai is a big open hall for the men of a village. Inside there are no dividing walls and no furniture, so the whole space is one room for meetings. The outside is decorated with pictures that tell Palauan legends, a bit like a comic strip painted on wood.

The in-app card describes the frame as made from timber pieces fitted together without nails, with a tall, steep thatched roof and storyboard paintings on the gables.

The Airai bai

Airai is the second most populous state of Palau and the biggest one on Babeldaob. It also has the country's main airport, and a bridge links it to Koror island.

Airai is best known for its bai. Wikipedia says it is the oldest one in existence, and gives its age as about 200 years in one place and over 100 years in another, so the exact date is uncertain. The card places it in the 19th century.

On the globe

The model shows the Airai bai with its tall thatched roof and the painted storyboard gables. Look at how steep the roof is and how the whole building is one open hall.