Those with a keen interest in history should not pass up an opportunity to visit the Gedong Arca Museum, which has a fascinating collection of Balinese heritage pieces. While the museum is not officially recognized as a tourist site, it is an important study centre for students and those with the desire to delve deeper into the ancient beginnings of Balinese civilization.

The museum is located in the village of Bedulu, which is on the road to the Presidential Palace in Tampak Siring in the regency of Gianyar. Gedong Arca is well known throughout Indonesia as a field archeological museum that was built in 1960 and opened to the public in 1974.

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The balinese, especially those who follow the Hindu religion, are a unique people. There uniqueness is event more apparent when it is adapted to the lifestyle of the third millennium. As a krama, or as a member of a village attending a traditional meeting in the village, a Balinese can appear ‘nyaput’, wearing their traditional costume, even is just previously, they may have been in a meeting business partner, wearing neck-ties and suit in an exlusive hotel. It is also normal for a supple, beautiful Balinese girl, who dances at the banjar or at the temple, or even in a hotel could have been panting the wall of the building, or selling marchandise at the market in sweatpants, that same afternoon.

From examples like these, it may seem as if the people of Bali live with two diferent personalities. But, in reality, they look at this as a way a carrying out there daily life, or as an effort in cultivating their karma. Tingkah manut swadarma, or conduct according to one’s position, is a teaching that is held strongly by most Balinese in carrying out there karma. Because of this, it is very possible that a girl who works as a shopkeeper, whose existence is nothing significant amongst the crowd in te market, may be the centre of attention as a dancer of the Rejang at the time of worship in a ritual held at the temple.

If we observe further, we will see that the conduct mentioned above are made possible by the order structureof the society of the Bali Hindu. It is not only adhering to the heritage from majapahit, but the unique customs of each area, wich characterize the organizationof society in Bali. It is because of this that we are able to see difference in the organizations from village to village, event if they are placed in the same basic framework of the traditional village