Istana Darussalam stands on the banks of the Kedayan River at Jalan Darussalam in Kampong Sumbiling Lama, in the Brunei-Muara District. Construction began in the 1940s with local timber -- the palace was first built entirely from wood, an expression of indigenous Malay craftsmanship at a time when Brunei was still a quiet British protectorate. Later, concrete replaced certain wooden pillars and beams, a practical concession to tropical climate and longevity rather than an aesthetic choice. The structure covers roughly three-quarters of an acre. Its green and brown coloring and steeply pitched rooflines remain distinctive Malay vernacular, and the palace still stands in striking contrast to the modest village homes that surround it. The Darussalam Jetty, the traditional royal entry from the river, serves as the threshold between the waterway and the palace grounds.

Before Hassanal Bolkiah's birth in 1946, the palace was already serving as the private residence of his father, Omar Ali Saifuddien III. Two more royal children followed in quick succession: Prince Mohamed Bolkiah on August 29, 1948, and Princess Masna on September 6 of the same year. The lower floor of the palace doubled as Sultan Omar Ali's private office from 1947, making Istana Darussalam both home and seat of government for a sultan navigating the complexities of postwar Borneo. National festivities and royal ceremonies unfolded in these rooms throughout the late 1940s. Then, in 1951, the royal family moved to the newly completed Istana Darul Hana on its hilltop across the capital, and Darussalam settled into a quieter role -- housing guests, marking time, holding its memories of the sultan's early reign.

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III abdicated the throne in 1967, passing it to the son who had been born in this riverside palace two decades earlier. But Omar Ali's connection to Istana Darussalam endured. On September 7, 1986, the former sultan died at the palace, bringing the story full circle -- the building that had witnessed the birth of his heir also witnessed his own final hours. He was buried at the Royal Mausoleum in Bandar Seri Begawan. The New York Times ran his obituary, noting the unusual arc of a sultan who had voluntarily relinquished power to his son. The palace where both milestones occurred still stands on the Kedayan, maintained by the Public Works Department of the Ministry of Development.

Today Istana Darussalam falls under the protection of the Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act, administered by the Museums Department. It has become a tourist attraction -- though a modest one, befitting the scale of the building itself. Visitors come to see what a Brunei royal residence looked like before oil wealth transformed the sultanate into one of the richest nations per capita on Earth. The palace is an artifact of a different Brunei, one where a sultan's home cost what a modest house might cost today and sat amid village homes rather than atop a riverside hill. The Darussalam Jetty still marks the old royal approach from the water, a reminder that for centuries Brunei's rivers were its highways, and that power in this corner of Borneo was measured not in square footage but in the depth of a dynasty's roots.