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Gunung Kawi

September 2004

About 10 miles outside Ubud is Gunung Kawi, the site of giant memorials carved in the 11th century into the rock walls of a lush ravine. They’re one of Bali’s oldest monuments and are thought to memorialize a Balinese king from Java and his consorts, but historians aren’t sure. The place is considered holy: Ancient monks’ cells are also carved in the rock, and more recent shrines have been erected among the carvings.

The steps down to the Gunung Kawi archeological site near Ubud leads through beautiful terraced rice fields

This man had climbed a palm tree, without a rope, and was cutting off fronds for thatching

Gunung Kawi consists of 10 giant memorials to a 10th- or 11th-century royal family carved out of a cliff face near a river

Looking at the memorials through the long roots of a fig tree

Chris on a bridge over the river; half of the memorials are on one side and half on the other. (She's wearing a temple sash because this considered a holy site.)

The space in front of these memorials was originally a pool that would have reflected them in the water.

Part of a modern-day shrine at the site

Farther down the ravine, small rooms were carved into the cliff, reputedly used as monastic cells by holy people

One of the cells contains a stone platform shaped like a bed, which modern Balinese decorate with offerings (presumably because a holy person once slept there)

Back at the top of the ravine, we got our first view of Bali's tallest and holiest mountain, a volcano almost 10,000 feet high called Mount Agung. Shrines around Bali are aligned toward the mountain.

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