Subak Museum is definetely one of the most interesting museums in Bali. It is located in Sanggulan village two km east of Tabanan. The Subak Museum houses exhibits on the history and development of Bali’s unique Subak irrigation organization. This is the only museum in Bali to focus on agriculture, provides all information on agricultural life of Bali and all its related aspects.

As its name suggest the main display in Subak Museum is the miniature of Subak which provides series of pictures of development of a Subak from finding a wellspring, creating tunnels and dams, channeling water through tunnels and dams to managing the water in the rice fields. Displays of farming implements for cutting, cleaning and pounding rice; tools for leveling land, ploughing, weeding, and digging water tunnels; various fish traps; tweezers for catching eels, wooden net used to catch dragonflies, and all implements in relation with Subak activities can be found here.

The Subak Museum provides a film which describes the process of handling the agricultural land. This process consists of various activities, from the meeting of Subak members to arrange the Subak rules to cultivating the land up to expressing gratitude to God for a good harvest. The museum also shows the variety of ceremonies commonly conducted at various stages of the cultivation cycle. There are also a miniature of kitchen with utensils used for cooking rice, a scale model of traditional house compounds which is built based on ancient architectural science of Asta Kosali Kosali.

For the visitors who want to get further information on Subak, a library with complete collection of books, palm leaves manuscripts and carved copper plates concerning with the Subak is at your service. The collections mainly deals with variety of rituals held at every stage of cultivation cycle, method of farming and auspicious days to start activities including their abstinences. The library not just houses collections in relation with Subak (irrigated field) but also provides complete collection of literature on Subak Abian (non-irigated ricefield).

Subak Museum not just gives complete information on Subak but also provides an image on how deeply rice farming intertwines inextricably with daily life of Balinese as well as with Balinese culture and religion.

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