Bali Museum: Cultural Showcase of the Island of the Gods

A human skeleton is on display in the East Building, 1st floor of the Bali Museum. The skeleton with bent legs is the bones of, presumably, an ancient modern human (Homo sapiens). On the side of the skeleton found at the Gilimanuk site, Jembarana, Bali, there were a number of grave supplies.

One of the Bali Museum guides, Tania Pardosi, said that grave supplies were buried with their owners because ancient humans believed there was life after death. "Grave provisions can include frying pans and jewelry," he told regional observers, Tuesday (4/8/2026).

regional observers went on an excursion to the Bali Museum, last Tuesday. The museum, which is managed by the Bali Culture Service, is located on Jalan Mayor Wisnu, Number 1, Denpasar.

The construction of the Bali Museum was initiated by Assistant Resident of South Bali W. F. J. Kroon in July 1910. Now the museum has 16,891 collection objects of various classifications, such as 321 philology (ancient manuscripts), 7,801 numismatics (coins, banknotes, tokens and medals), and 2,765 fine art objects.

The entrance ticket to the Bali Museum for domestic tourists is IDR 30 thousand. Meanwhile, tickets for foreign travelers are IDR 100 thousand, students IDR 10 thousand, and students IDR 5 thousand. The Bali Museum is open from 08.00 to 16.30 WITA and closes on national holidays.

The sarcophagus is also on display in the East Building on the 1st floor. However, the stone coffin and Homo sapiens skeleton on display are replicas. "The original is in Gilimanuk (Gilimanuk Early Man Museum)," explained Tania.

The management of the Bali Museum displays prehistoric collections such as hunting and gathering food, farming and cultivation in the East Building on the 1st floor. Apart from that, regional observers can also learn about the history of ancient Bali, middle Bali and new Bali in this room.

Meanwhile, in the East Building, the 2nd floor displays collections related to the peaks of Balinese culture in aspects of religious rituals such as Dewa Yadnya, Resi Yadnya, Pitra Yadnya, Human Yadnya, and Bhuta Yadnya. Objects on display include bells; chicken cages for quarterly ceremonies; to equipment for cremation such as bade.

One of the guides, Filipus Salim Santoso, explained that in the East Building on the 2nd floor there were also agricultural technology objects and colonial relics. Various ancient agricultural tools on display include penampads which functioned to cut grass and level the land and penampads for plowing rice fields. "Trains are placed on the backs of cows or buffalo to plow fields, but now farmers use tractors," said the Udayana University student majoring in archeology.

The objects from the colonial period on display include binoculars, bullets, hats, rifles, telephones and radios. Some of the museum collections on display are placed in a place covered with glass and light shines on the items in the collection. However, there are also historical items that are placed openly so that visitors can observe them more closely.