Saka Museum

On an island known for drawing sun-fried party people, some of whom might struggle to say what country Bali is in, a new cultural center is aiming for a smidge of enlightenment. Saka Museum, named for the ancient Hindu solar calendar and located amid the verdant grounds of Ayana Estate resort, but open to the public by reservation, celebrated its official launch in March, timed to the festivities its collection explores. Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence, is a holiday marking the Hindu-Balinese New Year that’s spent in prayer and meditation, when even the airport closes for 24 hours. Inside the multi-level museum, visitors can read Indonesian poetry on the walls, watch a documentary capturing the ritualistic magic of Nyepi, and view traditional Balinese calendars and sacred palm-leaf manuscripts called lontar. The collection also includes a gamelan and other musical instruments, a 19th-century star calendar created to predict the likely destiny of a person born on a certain day, and a duo of 17th-century celestial royal maidens carved from pink volcanic tuff stone. For its inaugural exhibition, “Walking Among the Giants,” the museum commissioned master artisans and community members to craft 10 stunningly detailed ogoh-ogoh, the effigies depicting mythological spirits that locals parade through the streets on Pengerupukan, the day preceding Nyepi. Believers ward off the malevolent spirits by making as much noise as possible, thronging public squares to a thunderous soundtrack of singing and drumming. One particularly gruesome ogoh-ogoh, depicting King Ravana from the Hindu epic Ramayana, towers 36 feet high—the tallest in Bali. “We hope that all visitors, whether locals or foreigners, gain a deeper appreciation of Bali's rich contributions to world cultures,” says Marlowe Bandem, the museum’s cultural archivist. “This is not only about local pride but also recognizing and celebrating the global influence on Bali.”

Buy your copy of the World's Greatest Places issue here