Bali Art Festival will soon begin; this festivities and feasts of art and culture will last for a month long in a sprawling five hectares complex of Art Center (Taman Werdhi). This Art Center complex, commenced in 1969 and officially opened for used in 1973, is located in Jalan Nusa Indah, Denpasar.

This complex has two entrances, on the left, is “Rinchui Sakura” gate with reminisce of Japanese style architecture. On the right side is a Candi Bentar split gate, the Candi Bentar represents greatness combines with awareness, and it is usually found in temple and palace, at the border of village, district and regency. It can also be found at entry point of Bali such as at Ngurah Rai International Airport.

The Art Center Complex houses various buildings for various purposes. These five traditional Balinese style buildings are masterpieces of talented architect Ida Bagus Tugur. The buildings are connected with a pathway, with ponds, gardens and bridge among them.

Each of the five buildings is respectively known as “Mahudara Mandhara Giri Bhuwana” is used as the main building for art exhibition; “Oncecrawa” is used for occasional workshops and exhibitions; “Amertha Saraswati” is used as a library; “Ardha Candra” is used for open air performances and “Ksirarnawa” is used for indoor performances.

In addition to these five buildings, there is a open air hall known as “wantilan”; it is used to hold performances where intimacy between performances and audience is desired, for example in Joged dance. A floating pavilion (Bale Kambang) is also can be found in this complex. The Bale Kambang is situated on a pond with beautiful views of pond and its surrounding gardens – the garden itself is named Udiyana Ratmala. Three statues are found at the eastern perimeter of the pond; the statue of Bhagawan Gangga flaked by the image of Dewi Gangga Soma, protector of rivers, lakes and seas; and the statue of Dewi Giri Putri, protector of mountains and springs.

There are also several resting places (Bale Bengong) situated on the side of the road that divides the complex into two and parallel with the small river inside the complex. These resting places have excellent views of the gardens, river and the main courtyard.

Lack of parking place especially during Bali Art Festival is no longer a problem. Traditional Youth Organizations (sekaa teruna) of the surrounding hamlets provide and manage several parking places around the Art Center Complex.

Editor’s Note:
Bali Arts Festival 2007 Schedule of Events

Popularity: 3% [?]