Pinisi

The pinisi is a traditional two-masted wooden sailing ship built by the Bugis and Makassarese peoples of South Sulawesi in Indonesia, used for centuries for interisland trade across the Indonesian archipelago and, historically, for voyages reaching as far as northern Australia and mainland Southeast Asia. Built by hand using traditional methods passed down through generations of shipwrights, without formal blueprints, and rigged with a distinctive sail plan that gave the type its name, the pinisi remains in active construction and use today, making it one of the few traditional Southeast Asian sailing ship types still commercially built rather than surviving only as a historical curiosity. UNESCO recognized the traditional knowledge and craftsmanship of pinisi boatbuilding as part of the world's Intangible Cultural Heritage, acknowledging both the vessel's ongoing practical use and its significance to Indonesian maritime tradition.