Symbolic acculturation and epistemic resistance in the sacred architecture of Keraton Cirebon: visual and cultural transformations across Hindu-Buddhist, Java, Chinese, Islamic, and colonial traditions

This study critically examines the architectural expression of the Keraton Kasepuhan Cirebon as a palimpsest of intercultural encounters, where Islamic aesthetics intersect with Javanese cosmology and transregional influences. Employing a qualitative interpretive method grounded in architectural hermeneutics, it integrates field observation, visual analysis, textual interpretation, and interviews with cultural custodians and heritage practitioners. Drawing on and extending Clifford Geertz’s notion of symbolic acculturation, the research formulates the Nusantara Acculturation Model, which elucidates the epistemic mechanisms through which Hindu–Buddhist iconography, Javanese spatial syntax, Chinese decorative codes, and colonial residues are selectively reinterpreted and integrated within an Islamic architectural framework.Findings reveal that acculturation in the Cirebon Sultanate represents an active cultural negotiation rather than passive assimilation, synthesizing Hindu Buddhist, Javanese Islamic, Chinese, and colonial traditions into a coherent symbolic system. Islamic principles of tawḥīd (unity), mīzān (balance), and niẓām (order) are spatially embodied, transforming the Keraton into a locus of contemplation (tadabbur) and purification (tazkiyah). Thus, its architecture becomes both an epistemic medium and a site of intertradition dialogue within a plural cultural landscape. The study contributes to Islamic aesthetics, heritage studies, and postcolonial architectural theory by offering a decolonial interpretation and proposing a value-based conservation framework rooted in Nusantara Islamic epistemology. It further underscores the relevance of epistemic pluralism as a foundation for contemporary architectural interpretation, heritage stewardship, and design praxis across the Indonesian Islamic world.