How Can a Historical Statue Located in Middle Rice Fields?

When I Visited Pejeng Village, Sukawati, Gianyar, I saw Arjuna Metapa Historical Statue. Arjuna is a figure in Mahabrath Story, and he is a handsome and powerful man. Strangely this Historical Statue is not located in a museum or in a closed place, but located in outdoors, precisely in the middle of rice fields, located on the west of Archaeological Museum, so I can saw easily. I can observe the shape of a amazing statues and admire the beauty of the rice fields around statue.

The existence of Metapa Arjuna Historical Statue is closely related to the Balinese People. I saw this statue is very well preserved. Saw this historical statue I felt was brought into the Mahabharata History which tells the story of Kauravas and Pandavas family. And Arjuna is one of the central figures derived from the Pandavas.

This statue depicts Arjuna who weared a recluse cloth, on the right and left side accompanied by two loyal servant. Arjuna servant named Tualem and Merdah. Arjuna statue established as one of the historic sites that must be protected from a variety of natural and human disturbances. So despite the existence open place but until whenever this statue will still safe.

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Taman Sari - Water Castle Yogyakarta

The sound of gurgling water, the beauty of its ancient architecture and the wonderful view make Taman Sari Yogyakarta become a amazing tourist attraction.

Taman Sari Yogyakarta is the bailey of Yogyakarta palace awarded by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono I to his wives as respect for their devotion. As bailey, of course distance between Taman Sari with Yogyakarta palace is not too far. Only about 1 kilometers to the west of the palace exactly Taman street, Keraton, Yogyakarta or about 12 kilometers from Adisutjipto International Airport.

Taman Sari is a palace surrounded by segaran (artificial lake) with the fragrance of the flowers planted around it. Many visitors call the Taman Sari as a water castle because architecture value and the uniqueness of build and ponds is decorated by gurgling water. There are a tower where visitors can go up there to see reflection of the sun from the ponds and Taman sari area with clearly visible and very beautiful.

Taman Sari is the good of choice for recreation. Besides the beautiful tourist attraction, this place has also the uniqueness such as architecture of build. For visit it, visitors must pay a entrance tickets about Rp 3.000 and Rp 7.000 for foreign tourist. Taman Sari is opened to the public from 08.00 until 14.00






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Tugu - Symbol and Landmark Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta, who does not know ?

Now, Yogyakarta is world travel destination. As tourist town, Yogyakarta has a special characteristic like France with Eiffel's tower and USA with Liberty's statue

That is Tugu Yogyakarta

Tugu is symbol of the struggle Yogyakarta's people and government against the invaders. As symbol of the unity between people and government, Tugu as a silent witness Yogyakarta's history. And now, Tugu or local people called Tugu Pal Putih is the most famous attraction and symbol or landmark Yogyakarta.

The king of Yogyakarta at the time, Hamengkubuwono I is a founder this monument. It has a height of about 15 meters with a pointy cone-shaped peak and the whole body is white.

Tugu Yogyakarta is located at the intersection Jenderal Sudirman street, Pangeran Mangkubumi street, A.M Sangaji street and Diponegoro street.

This monument is very nice to be in photo memories or just take walk for look and interpret the philosophy. For visit, at 05.00-06.00am very nice because the air is still fresh or in the night, with additional light vehicle add to beauty glittering this monument.

Are you interested ?

For more information, you can visit Bali Star Island 

Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta

Prambanan Temple or  local people called Loro Jonggrang Temple is the biggest Hindu's temple in Indonesian with an area of 39,8 ha, it located in Prambanan Village, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta. It is about 17 kilometers away from Yogyakarta City or 7 kilometers away from Adisuciptjo International Airport.

Prambanan Temple is as symbols Trimurthi, 3 Gods of Hindu namely Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa. It has unique architecture and very important to visit if vacate to Yogyakarta because it is one of the most beautiful temples in Shouteast Asia. This temple is including in the world heritage by UNESCO has 240 temples, such as :

1. 3 Trimurti Temples
2. 3 Wahana Temples
3. 2 Apit temples
4. 4 Kelir Temples
5. 4 Kelir Temples
6. 224 Perwara Temples

Existing reliefs in Prambanan Temple tell Ramayana's story, there are the Prince Rama with his wife, Sita against Rahwana.

The best way to explore the Prambanan Temple is walk while enjoying the scenery architecture and design temple.

Besides this temple has unique architecture, it has a beautiful park around the temple that can add interesting value for Prambanan Temple.

In Pengrupukan day, usually visitors specially Hindus people come to Prambanan Temple for pray and watching Ogoh-Ogoh parade as a series Silent Day or 'Nyepi'.

So, Prambanan Temple be the most tourist destination in Yogyakarta with Borobudur Temple.The entrance fee to Prambanan Temple is Rp 30.000 for adult and Rp 12.500 for child.

Margarana Monument Park - Feel the Struggle of Balinese People

Margarana National Monument Park is a park that memorialize the sacrifice of the Balinese people towards the Independence of Indonesia after the second World War. The park is located in Marga Village, Marga sub district, Tabanan Regency. I Gusti Ngurah Rai, one of the greatest hero in the Balinese history who fought the Dutch were killed together with his 96 men. His last stand was on the 20th of November 1946 in the village of Margarana and is known as "Puputan Margarana" (fight to death). Ngurah Rai was the spirit of the Balinese resistance and this monument park is dedicated to all of the Balinese fighters who lost their lives in the name of freedom between 1945 to 1950. Therefore, there are tomb of heroes lied on the park to honor the heroes who died in the war of independence.

The monument is lied on a 9 hectare land which is divided into 3 courts (Tri Mandala concept). 

• The first court (upstream) has a total area of 4 hectares, it consists of several buildings. The buildings include: The Temple of Heroes Margarana a 17 meters tall stately sculpture, Court of Ceremony, Statue of Panca Bakti, Taman Bahagia where the tombs of the hero lies, Historical Building a place where objects that are used during the struggle is stored and a Sacred garden where visitors can perform a worship.
• The second court (Middle) has an area of 1 hectare, in this court there is a Wantilan (hall) where visitors can sit and have a rest, there are several food stalls provided and a souvenir shop is planned to be built in this court.
• The last court (downstream) also has a total area of 4 hectares it is an open park and an Earth Youth Camps are planned to be built.

Margarana National Monument Park is often visited by domestic visitors and school students from all regions of Indonesia but sadly, it only receives little foreign visitors. This park is actually a great park to visit, visitors can honor heroes and see how hard Ngurah Rai and the Balinese people struggled for freedom.

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Subak Museum - Historic Balinese Agricultural Site

Subak Museum is a museum that shows the highlight of the Balinese agricultural system that is known as Subak.The museum has various collection of Balinese traditional agriculture tools and old documentation. It is located in Sanggulan Village, Kediri sub district, Tabanan regency. Approximately 2 kilometers in the east of Tabanan town and about 4 kilometers west of the road intersection leading to kediri. It takes about 40minutes to reach this museum from Denpasar city. Subak Museum is opened for public and it is one of the tourist destination in the west part of Bali, Tabanan regency. 

Entering the museum, visitors will experience a cool atmosphere due to the large trees that shade the museum. Subak museum was officiated by the Governor of Bali on the 13th of October 1981. This museum consists of two main buildings, an opened building and a closed building. In the opened building visitors may see a miniature of Subak demonstration. The objects that are displayed in this building are farmer equipments that include equipments that are used to make irrigation system, farm processing, crop conservation, harvesting and some kitchen equipments. The closed building consists of a library, office and an exhibition stand where visitors are able to see demonstration of the object related to farmer work and a visual audio narrating Subak activities.

Subak museum is opened on weekdays from 8:00am until 17:00pm and 8:00am until 13:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays, the museum is closed on Sundays. The admission fee is only Rp 5.000 for adults and Rp 3.000 for kids. This museum is worth for a visit because visitors get to know all the equipments and the lifestyle of Bali in the past.

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Bajra Sandhi Monument Bali's Historical Site

Bajra Sandhi monument is a monument located in front of the Bali Governor's office in Renon, Denpasar. This monument is dedicated to immortalize the struggle of Balinese from time to time during 3000 BC. The great pillar arises above 45 meters to symbolize the indonesian independence. Inside the monument there are many miniature scenes of Balinese people over the years. The entrance fee to Bajra Sandhi is Rp 10.000, opened from 8:30-16:30 and closed during Hindu holidays. The monument is surrounded by a very large park, it is known as the city park by the locals. The park is popular and used for many occasion for the locals such as sport activities and some other local events.

The monument is divided into 3 areas (Tri Mandala)

1. Utama Mandala: is the main building in the middle.
2. Madya Mandala: is the courtyard that surrounds Utama mandala
3. Nista Mandala: is the outer courtyard surrounding Madya mandala

The main building (Utama Mandala) consists of three floors. Utamaning Utama Mandala, is placed on the third floor of the monument. Visitors can see a great view of Denpasar from this floor. Madyaning Utama Mandala, is placed on the second floor. In this floor, Visitors can see 33 different miniature of Balinese people's struggle. Nistaning Utama Mandala is the ground floor of the building. In the ground floor, there are information room, exhibit rooms, and conference room.

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Top view of the monument
View from the monument	View from the Utamaning Utama Mandala
Inside the monument	One of the miniature
Stairs to reach the Utamaning Utama Mandala	Bajra Sandi monument at night
	The entrance of the monument

Kerta Gosa, Klungkung - Bali

Kerta Gosa is a beautiful historical site situated in the heart of Semarapura Town, about 40km east side of Denpasar City. The name of Kerta Gosa is taken from Sanskrit, where Kerta means serene and meanwhile Gosa world is derive from Gosita that mean established or announced. Thus the meaning of Kerta Gosa is a kind of Bale building where the King announces Judicial Legislation, justice punishment and so on. Beside of Kerta Gosa, there is a building called by Taman Gili which is located adjacent to Bale Kembang that is a traditional building floating in the center of fish pound. 

Kerta Gosa and Taman Gili building can not be separated with the establishment of Semarapura Palace. The Semarapura Palace is established by I Dewa Agung Djambe, The first king of Klungkung around 1686. The painting that decorate Kerta Gosa ceiling are the painting with the story motif like Ni Diah Tantri, Bima Swarga, Garuda and Palelindon those are arranged in form of panels with 9 levels. The paintings are begun from the east panel with the story in the direction of circumambulation  (turning to the right as clockwise) and finish at the north panel. 

The history of Kerta Gosa is founded in 18 century and it has a lot of changed in 20 century. These building

have been renovated after earthquake that brought much destroy in year 1971. The most unique of this building is the ceiling made from the asbestos material fully decorated by the traditional painting with Kamasan style famous in 1930. 30 years later in 1960, Pan Semaris Putra from Pan Seken has restored and renewed according to the original style. During the Dutch colonization (1908-1942), Kerta Gosa is still used as a court to persecute the violators especially criminal. In line with the colonial administration, The Indonesian law has changed from the legal system Majapahit heritage (traditional) into the continental law system which is brought by the Dutch. The change of the system are not means to retaliation, but improve the perpetrator to be accepted back into their society. By this concept, the word of Penjara (Jail) has changed into :Lembaga Permasyarakatan (LP). The ceiling of Taman Gili building that is fully decorated by the traditional painting to persuade the violators to not repeat the offense (recidivism) because the Hindu Society in Bali have heard the story of Bima Swarga that has been visualized on this building. Realized and believed, beside of the prison sentence they got, it has been waiting for the punishment of the hereafter is more terrible and feared in form of fire prosecution by Cikabakala. Hopefully after the seeing these visuals, the violators realize against the crime resulted in suffering, hence it can prevent the recidivism. Bima Swarga is excerpt from Mahabharata Epic that share the experience of Bima, one of princess from Panca Pandawa, when searching the spirit of his father in the afterlife is saying tortures.