Story: Māori architecture – whare Māori

This unidentified Māori kāinga (village) was drawn by the French naval artist Louis Sainson during explorer Dumont d'Urville's third voyage around New Zealand in 1839–40. Unusually, most of the buildings have round roofs, although a more common gable-roofed building is visible at the extreme left. All of the buildings in this illustration are small, with doorways so low they can only be entered by crawling. These were standard features of Māori dwellings before the influence of European settlement.