The tradition and innovation of their unique art and architecture has virtually ended, and in this we are losing a great deal: their primordially rich spiritual connection to the earth and the cosmos; their reverence of founding ancestors and the house as a living thing; and their complex weaving patterns and techniques.

This museum-quality exhibit, curated by Garrett and Bronwen Solyom, was 18 years in the making. The collection of art and artifacts comes from the University of California-Los Angeles Fowler Museum of Cultural History, the Volkerkundemuseum at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and private collections.

The exquisite exhibition design and installation by Tom Klobe and staff beautifully illustrate the Lampung legend.

"No such show has been done like it anywhere in the world," says Garrett Solyom. "And for very good reason, because this culture has been very difficult for anyone to get their arms around. Mostly it has attracted the attention of people who are in love with textiles, because the textiles are so extraordinary and so visual."

The exhibit begins with maps, historical data, lithographs and rare photographs. It is best to start viewing the show clockwise from the left as the iconography, the real echo, begins to play eye-ricochet around every corner in different genres.

The ancient Austronesians settled in Lampung between 5000 and 1500 B.C. Their social organization centered on the house — a microcosm of cosmic representation.

The traditional pile-built house was separated into three sections. The attic was the upper world of deities and spirits of deified ancestors, and contained clothed wooden carved effigies of the ancestors. The middle level was the living, earthly world of human existence, and the under-floor area was the underworld of spirits and earth serpents. The Lampung people believed that spirits were everywhere.

Woman's ceremonial skirt, or tapis, detail showing "the young fertile woman." Cotton, silk, warp ikat, embroidery, 56 by 50 inches. This textile belongs to a small group of rare red tapis.

The four totem-like posts of the house have a carved human head in the lower section.

"A human sacrifice had to be made to bring each house corner post alive so that the house was a living thing," says Solyom.

The exhibit also includes small doors (Lampung people are petite), carved cosmic discs, throne backs and heavenly gate sections. The woodcarvings are a perfect introduction to the motifs that include ancient Austronesian, Buddhist and Hindu symbols (sun and moon motifs, lotus petals, thunderbolts, animals, fish, birds, etc.)

A section of headdresses and body ornaments shows the repeated patterns of fertility, while the sacred daggers (kris) and hilts, believed to be a source of power, reveal repeated hornbill (birds of prophecy) and megalith designs. The smaller megalith designs on the handles symbolize enormous, stone-carved guardian ancestors.

Kris, or dagger, of an aristocrat. Made of carved and laminated iron and nichelous iron, gold encrustation, wood, silver, elephant-molar handle, gilded fitting. The silver sheath with repousse foliate patterns and magical symbols was a style popular in Lampung.

The modern-looking, bird-like metal containers were used to heat fresh tree sap over the coals for tooth-blackening. The people of Lampung may have begun thinking black teeth were beautiful because the blackening process gave them a way to preserve their teeth.

Terra-cotta containers, medicine bowls, elaborately beaded betel-nut boxes and beaded food covers, and sizeable conically woven food covers were made for ritual and daily use. The patterns on these works of art signified a place of honor, as well as the social status and wealth of the family. Roosters, horses, sky serpents, cosmic symbols and tree of origin motifs repeat in these utensils, covers and containers.

Some of the beads, bought from traders, are 12th-century Chinese beads from the Sung dynasty.

Girls in ancient Lampung were honored as progenitors aiding the beginning of another lineage through their fertility, strength and knowledge. In the designs pyrographed into the lampit (rattan mats), their vulvas are in full view. These mats were used as seats for lineage heads and brides.

A 19th-century bridal mat is jammed with every conceivable symbol of the three worlds to magically assist the bride in keeping calm during the ceremony. The designs were burned into the mats using a fine-pointed coconut husk that was ignited and used to scorch the surface when brought close to the oiled rattan mat.

The last section in the exhibit is where the crème de la crème of woven cloth resides. The Lampung women were master storytellers as well as master weavers, and it is here that the full impact of this culture comes back to life.

Taught by their grandmothers, girls were encouraged to incorporate traditional symbols in innovative ways.

In some ways, it was a competition driven by a concept of possessing primacy. A masterful weaver was seen as a great asset to the groom's family. The women grew cotton and silk (off the back porch), spun the threads, dyed them with indigo, turmeric and other plant pigments and proceeded to weave patterns that still boggle the minds of textile experts. One piece of woven fabric in this section is 600 years old.

"Basically, they kept cloth in thick slab-sided teak boxes," says Solymon. "They had a very disciplined tradition of airing them carefully in the shade to alleviate mildew, and their post houses were 10 feet off the ground."

Every Lampung icon blooms in the textile section. It is a hothouse for crossbred cultural images and dramatic beauty. The design elements of the previous sections of the exhibit assemble here and illuminate the application.

Astounding images of ships carrying spirit cargo and material treasures, trees of origin, fertility symbols, sea creatures, animals, birds, people and insects are arranged in complex compositions and dramatic color contrasts.

After falling in love with Lampung 35 years ago, the Solyoms started a book project. This exhibit represents an 18-year journey connecting and collecting fragments of this fading culture to share with the world.

The 200-page catalog of the exhibit will be available by Christmas. Reservations are recommended. Call Sharon Tasaka at 956-6888 to reserve a copy of the catalog.

"It is a fascinating culture and now it is gone," says Solyom. "We tried to bring the best that we could to Hawai'i."