PURI AGUNG KARANGASEM

People quite often need reasons to visit places, regardless distance, regardless who create them and how they are created or emerged. I’ve been living in Jakarta for more than 20 years, but many places in the city remain virgins for me until today. I’ve been living in Indonesia for over 40 years, but I had visited less than 1% of those thousands beautiful places across this fantastic archipelago. Many of those places will remain virgin for me, either because I have not enough time or I can’t find reasons or circumstances to go there.

Puri Agung Karangasem in Bali might be one of those beautiful places in Indonesia that I would never visit if a friend wasn’t kind enough to bring me there. It’s a fact of life that many people can easily find time wandering around to places far away from home, but haven’t really explored the beauty of their own lands for years.

Puri Agung Karangasem (Karangasem Royal Palace) was built by Anak Agung Gede Jelantik, who was the first ruler of the Karangasem Kingdom, in the 19th Century. Puri Agung Karangasem is located at the heart of Amlapura, around 78km from city of Denpasar.

The above picture is a bridge, connecting the front part of the palace named Bencingah, and Balai Gili or floating building in the middle of a big pond. The pond is part of the Palace Garden, named Jaba Tengah.

Bencingah, the front part of the palace, is where traditional art performances are usually taken place.

The above and below pictures were parts of a program conducted by the family dedicated towards the late A.A. Madé Djelantik, a well-respected figure from the Puri Agung Karangasem.

A.A. Bulan Trisna Djelantik, eldest daughter of A.A. Made Djelantik was seen speaking with a little girl. There’s exhibition inside Balai Gili showing the works of and things related with A.A. Madé Djelantik.

Scene of Balai Gili was taken from Bancingah, or the front part of the Palace.

The easiest but still difficult challenge for those who inherit great places such as Puri Agung Karangasem is how to keep the precious inheritance alive, respected and relevant at all times. To make it even greater, more respected and relevant is a more noble way to respect the ancestors, as life shall move forward, not to stay still and at the end merely become remnants of great stories of the past.

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