Ubud Palace

Last updated
Gate of Ubud Palace Ubud Palace (2022).jpg
Gate of Ubud Palace

The Ubud Palace, officially Puri Saren Agung, is a historical building complex situated in Ubud, Gianyar Regency of Bali, Indonesia.

Contents

Campuhan river junction Campuhan 1.jpg
Campuhan river junction

History

The palace was the official residence of the royal family of Ubud. It was on his travels that Rsi Markandya received a divine revelation that in Bali he was to bury five precious metals on a mountain slope where the mother temple of Besakih now stands today. Along with a group of followers, Rsi Markandya was magnetically attracted to a destination located in the central foothills of the island that radiated light and energy. This place was Campuhan in Ubud at a junction in the Wos River and it was here that he felt compelled to build a temple by the name of Pura Gunung Lebah.

On subsequent expeditions around Bali, Rsi Markandya built a number of other significant temples and created a shared irrigation system for the terraced landscape that is still practiced by farmers today. The formation of the banjar, which is a village council responsible for community and religious affairs, was also inspired by Rsi Markandya. In essence, it can be said that Rsi Markandya is responsible for the foundation of Balinese Hinduism in its purest form referred to as Agama Tirtha or the religion of holy water.

Since being discovered back in the 8th century, the area of Campuhan has always been highly regarded by the Balinese for its immense spiritual powers. Even the term Ubud is derived from the term ubad, meaning medicine in reference to the traditional healing properties of the array of plants that randomly grow here. Generations of Hindu worshippers have made special pilgrimages to the fork in the Wos River to mediate, bathe and collect holy water for temple ceremonies and cleansing rituals.

There had always been ties between Java and Bali, but it was the disintegration of the once mighty Majapahit Empire in the 15th century that saw a mass exodus of nobles to Bali. A new kingdom on the island's east coast called Gelgel was consequently established and gave sanctuary to many important ruling families. They brought with them an artistic legacy and the principles of the caste system.

By the 17th century Bali invariably experienced a rapid emergence of new kingdoms, including the founding of several royal houses in Ubud. However, this period also saw much conflict between the royal clans with supremacy as the ultimate goal. A prince from Klungkung was sent to create a palace in Sukawati as a centre of great power and aesthetic beauty. Artisans came from all over Bali to help in its construction and once completed many of them chose to stay. Sukawati today is a community that strongly supports all forms of artistry as well as dance and music.

With the successful establishment of a reigning authority in Sukawati, palace retainers were then sent in the late 1700s to secure the area of Ubud. A pair of cousins formed rival communities in Padang Tegal and further north in the area of Taman. Following subsequent fighting between these neighbouring villages the king of Sukawati sent his brothers Tjokorde Ngurah Tabanan to Peliatan and Tjokorde Tangkeban to Sambahan to establish palaces with the notion to control these troubled areas.

8°30′24″S115°15′45″E / 8.5068°S 115.2626°E / -8.5068; 115.2626

Description

The palace, in Balinese architecture, in its present form, was built during the reign of Tjokorda Putu Kandel (1800–1823). [1]

However, after the 1917 earthquake, palace structures suffered significant damage, but since it was the residence of the royal family it was quickly restored, before being opened to foreign guests in 1928.

Many of the stone carvings were made by the prominent local artist I Gusti Nyoman Lempad (1862?–1978). The main pavilion usually hosts dance shows at night. To the north is the pure Marajan Agung, the private temple of the royal family. The enclosure in front of the palace has a magnificent fig tree from Bengal and is also used as a residence for the royal family. [2]

Shows

The royal palace of Ubud is, especially known for its traditional Balinese dance shows. The stage of performance has an ornamented angkul-angkul background (traditional doors and guardian statues). The performances are animated with Gamelan percussion orchestras. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubud</span> Town in Bali, Indonesia

Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. It forms a northern part of the Greater Denpasar metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klungkung Regency</span> Regency of Indonesia

Klungkung Regency is the smallest regency (kabupaten) in the island province of Bali, Indonesia. It has an area of 315 km2 and had a population at the 2010 Census of 170,543 which increased to 206,925 at the Census of 2020; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 214,012. The administrative centre for the regency is in the town of Semarapura.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balinese art</span>

Balinese art is an art of Hindu-Javanese origin that grew from the work of artisans of the Majapahit Kingdom, with their expansion to Bali in the late 14th century. From the sixteenth until the twentieth centuries, the village of Kamasan, Klungkung, was the centre of classical Balinese art. During the first part of the twentieth century, new varieties of Balinese art developed. Since the late twentieth century, Ubud and its neighboring villages established a reputation as the center of Balinese art.

Hotel Tjampuhan & Spa, better known as the Tjampuhan Hotel is a historic hotel in Ubud, on the island of Bali, Indonesia. The Tjampuhan is the second-oldest hotel in Bali, trailing only the Natour Bali Hotel that opened in 1927. It is run and owned by the Tjampuhan Group under Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati and his family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klungkung Palace</span>

The Klungkung Palace, officially Puri Agung Semarapura, is a historical building complex situated in Semarapura, the capital of the Klungkung Regency (kabupaten) on Bali, Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudolf Bonnet</span> Dutch painter

Johan Rudolf Bonnet was a Dutch artist who lived much of his life in the town of Ubud on Bali, Indonesia. He was born into a Dutch Huguenot-descended family who had been bakers for many generations. He attended the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.

Anak Agung Gde Sobrat (1912–1992) was a painter in Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puputan</span>

Puputan is a Balinese term for a mass ritual suicide in preference to facing the humiliation of surrender. It originally seems to have meant a last desperate attack against a numerically superior enemy. Notable puputans in the history of Bali occurred in 1906 and 1908, when the Balinese were being subjugated by the Dutch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puri Lukisan Museum</span>

The Puri Lukisan Ratna Wartha Museum is the oldest art museum in Bali which specialize in modern traditional Balinese paintings and wood carvings. The museum is located in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. It is home to the finest collection of modern traditional Balinese painting and wood carving on the island, spanning from the pre-Independence war (1930–1945) to the post-Independence war era. The collection includes important examples of all of the artistic styles in Bali including the Sanur, Batuan, Ubud, Young Artist and Keliki schools.

Gelgel is a village (desa) in the regency (kabupaten) of Klungkung, on Bali, Indonesia. The village, near the coast four kilometers south of the regency capital Semarapura, contains some structures of cultural interest and is known for its pottery and handwoven ceremonial songket cloth. The height of the village's power came during the kingdom of Gelgel, which dominated Bali from around the early 16th century to 1686. There are no traces left today of the old royal palace (puri). The old ancestral shrine of the ruling dynasty, Pura Jero Agung, is still standing in the old palace area. To the east of Pura Jero Agung is another old temple, Pura Dasar, which is a lowland counterpart of the "mother temple" of Bali, Pura Besakih. The village also contains the oldest mosque in Bali, which was built by Javanese retainers of the old kings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati</span>

Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati, was the only President of the State of East Indonesia from 1946 to its disestablishment in 1950. He served from 1946 until the dissolution of the East Indonesian State in 1950. His title, Tjokorda Gde, signaled that Soekawati belonged to the highest ksatria. He had two wives, the first a Balinese, Gusti Agung Niang Putu, who gave him a son named Tjokorda Ngurah Wim Sukawati. In 1933, he married a French woman named Gilbert Vincent, who gave him two children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch intervention in Bali (1908)</span>

The Dutch conquest of Klungkung, Bali in 1908 marked the final phase of Dutch colonial control over the island of Bali in Indonesia. It was the seventh and last military intervention in Bali, following the Dutch invasion of South (1906).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch intervention in Bali (1906)</span>

The Dutch conquest of South Bali in 1906 was a Dutch military intervention in Bali as part of the Dutch colonial conquest of the Indonesian islands, killing an estimated 1,000 people. It was part of the final takeover of the Netherlands East-Indies. The campaign led to the deaths of the Balinese rulers of Badung and Tabanan kingdoms, their wives and children and followers. This conquest weakened the remaining independent kingdoms of Klungkung and Bangli, leading to their invasion two years later. It was the sixth Dutch military intervention in Bali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balinese temple</span> Balinese Hindu temple

A Pura is a Balinese Hindu temple, and the place of worship for adherents of Balinese Hinduism in Indonesia. Puras are built following rules, style, guidance, and rituals found in Balinese architecture. Most puras are found on the island of Bali, where Hinduism is the predominant religion; however many puras exist in other parts of Indonesia where significant numbers of Balinese people reside. Mother Temple of Besakih is the most important, largest, and holiest temple in Bali. Many Puras have been built in Bali, leading it to be titled "the Island of a Thousand Puras".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semarapura</span> Place in Bali, Indonesia

Semarapura is a town that serves as the administrative capital of the Klungkung Regency in Bali, Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karangasem Regency</span> Regency in Indonesia

Karangasem Regency is a regency (kabupaten) of the island and province of Bali, Indonesia. It covers the east part of Bali, has an area of 839.54 km2 and had a population of 396,487 at the 2010 Census which rose to 492,402 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 511,300. Its regency seat is the town of Amlapura. Karangasem was devastated when Mount Agung erupted in 1963, killing 1,900 people. Karangasem was a kingdom before Bali was conquered by the Dutch.

Tjokorda Ngurah Wim Sukawati, was the eldest son of the President of the State of East Indonesia and former King of Ubud Tjokorda Gde Raka Soekawati and his wife Gusti Agung Niang Putu. His title Tjokorda Gde indicates that Sukawati belonged to the highest ksatria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bali Kingdom</span> Series of kingdoms in Bali, Indonesia

The Kingdomship of Bali was a series of Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms that once ruled some parts of the volcanic island of Bali, in Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. With a history of native Balinese kingship spanning from the early 10th to early 20th centuries, Balinese kingdoms demonstrated sophisticated Balinese court culture where native elements of spirit and ancestral reverence combined with Hindu influences – adopted from India through ancient Java intermediary – flourished, enriched and shaped Balinese culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pura Taman Saraswati</span> Balinese Hindu temple in Indonesia

Pura Taman Saraswati, officially Pura Taman Kemuda Saraswati, also known as the Ubud Water Palace, is a Balinese Hindu temple in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. The pura is dedicated to the goddess Sarasvati. Pura Taman Saraswati is notable for its lotus pond.

References

  1. 1 2 Go Guides (ed.). "Ubud Royal Palace (Puri Saren Agung)" . Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  2. Lonely Planet (ed.). "Imdonesia. Ubud Palace" . Retrieved 14 August 2022.