Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Subak Museum and traditional Balinese house
Jl Gatat Subroto, Desa Bajar Anyar • Sat-Thurs 8am-4pm, Fri 8am-12.30pm • Rp15,000, children Rp10,000
• 0361 810315 • Signposted off the main Tabanan road in Banjar Senggulan, 1.5km east of Tabanan town
centre and about the same distance west of the Kediri T-junction; if coming by bemo from Ubung (Denpasar),
either alight at the Kediri junction and walk the 1.5km, or switch to a town-centre bemo at the Pesiapan terminal
Tabanan district has long been a major rice producer, and the Subak Museum or Mandala
Mathika Subak celebrates the role of the island's 1200 rice farmers' collectives - the subak
that control the distribution of irrigation water and shape the landscape. Rice is seen as a gift
from the gods, so the subak follow a concept of blending the spiritual, human and natural
worlds. It's such a distinctly Balinese philosophy that UNESCO added subak culture to its
World Heritage list in 2012.
While the museum is hardly crammed with exhibits, one interesting display explains the
complex irrigation system used by every subak on the island - an unmechanized process that
has been in operation since the eleventh century at least. In a nutshell, a river is channelled to
the subak area then dispersed by hundreds of small channels, with tiny dams to regulate the
water flow and lengths of wood, called tektek , to determine the volume and direction of flow.
It's also worth looking out for the spiked wooden tweezers used to catch eels from the wa-
terlogged paddies at night, and the wooden nets to trap dragonflies, once prized as delicacies
by the Balinese.
Less than 100m further along the lane, a purpose-built traditional Balinese house comple-
ments the Subak Museum by illustrating the layout of a typical village home, comprising a
series of thatched bale (pavilions) in a walled compound. Each bale has a specific function
and its location is determined by the sacred Balinese direction kaja (towards the revered
Gunung Agung mountain) and its counterpoint kelod (away from the mountain, or towards
the sea).
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