Ubud is a town in Bali located in Ubud
sub-District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central
foothills of the Gianyar regency. One of Bali's major arts and culture centres,
it has developed a large tourism industry. Ubud has a population of about
30,000 people. Recently, it has become difficult to distinguish the town itself
from the villages that surround it. The area surrounding the town is made up of
small farms, rice paddies, and dense forest. In the late nineteenth century,
Ubud became the seat of feudal lords who owed their allegiance to the king of
Gianyar, at one time the most powerful of Bali's southern states. The lords
were members of the satriya family of Sukawati, and were significant supporters
of the village's increasingly renowned arts scene.
LOCATION
Ubud Village is a traditional village supervising
13 Banjar (group of community) and 6 custom countryside. It is located in Ubud
sub district, Gianyar Regency and about 20 km from Denpasar Town.
Ubud Vilage can be reached within 30 minutes or 15 minutes from Gianyar Town
and this place is situated in the high land about 300 meter above sea level.
Ubud is surrounded by the good temperature compare with other regions in Bali
where the temperatures are relative cool that is ideally for everyone to stay
in this beautiful place.
INTERESTING POINT
8th century legend tells of a Javanese priest,
Rsi Markendya, who meditated at the confluence of two rivers (an auspicious
site for Hindus) at the Ubud locality of Campuan. Here he founded the Gunung
Lebah Temple on the valley floor, the site of which remains a pilgrim
destination. The town was originally important as a source of medicinal herbs
and plants; Ubud gets its name from the Balinese word “Ubad” (medicine). Tourism
on the island developed after the arrival of Walter Spies, an ethnic German
born in Russia who taught painting and music, and dabbled in dance. Spies and
foreign painters Willem Hofker and Rudolf Bonnet entertained celebrities
including Charlie Chaplin, Noël Coward, Barbara Hutton, H.G. Wells and Vicki
Baum. They brought in some of the greatest artists from all over Bali to teach
and train the Balinese in arts, helping Ubud become the cultural centre of
Bali. A new burst of creative energy came in 1960s in the wake of Dutch painter
Arie Smit (1916-), and development of the Young Artists Movement. There are
many museums in Ubud, including the Museum Puri Lukisan, Museum Neka and the
Agung Rai Museum of Art. The Ubud Monkey Forest is a sacred nature reserve
located near the southern end of Jalan Monkey Forest. It houses a temple and
approximately 340 Crab-eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) monkeys.
