The Gedong Arca Museum, Archaeological Life in Bali

Balitraveldiary.com – Bali has many museums with various specific collections. One of them is the Gedong Arca Museum of Archeology. Which is on the edge of the road between Bedulu and Tampak Siring. Precisely in the village of Pejeng, Gianyar Regency.

This museum holds a collection of various ancient objects from human civilization from prehistoric times. This museum is the right destination for interest in cultural tourism and anthropology, especially Bali in the past.

The museum was founded between 1958-1959 on the initiative of a number of Indonesian archaeologists, including R.P. Soejono. The aim is to save and preserve various objects of prehistoric relics found in various corners of the island of Bali. These ancient objects are in danger of being lost because they were taken abroad as souvenirs and collectible items by travelers who stopped in Bali. Until now, the number of collections successfully collected by the Gedong Arca Museum has reached 3,000. The collection is the findings, purchases from collectors, and private property submitted to the museum.

The collections which are stored in the 57,150 square meter museum are divided into groups based on their period of time. Broadly speaking, the periodization of these collections is divided into the Prehistoric Period (before the 8th century AD) and the Age of History (starting from the 8th century AD). If elaborated further, the Prehistoric Age was divided into the early hunting period, the final hunting period, the farming period, and the metal age.

The Gedong Arca Museum consists of several buildings. On the easternmost side after the entrance gate, there are four closed exhibition buildings, namely Buildings A, B, J and K. These buildings hold collections from different periods. Building A holds a prehistoric collection from the time of hunting and gathering, Building B holds a collection of the stone age and parts, Building J holds a collection of ceramic objects, while Building K contains a collection from the metal age.

Right in the middle of the four buildings, there is an open building that holds a number of statues and reliefs, including a pratima replica of the Kintamani Writing Pucak Temple and a relief replica of the Candra Sangkala Penataran Tampaksiring Temple. On the west side of this area, there are several open buildings that contain a range of sacphorous or stone grave crates with various shapes. These sarcophagus fill buildings coded C to I.

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