Stone Carving

STONE CARVING

Althoughstone carvings were mainly used to decorate temples and palaces, the carvershad much more leeway in their use of subject matter than the artists andillustrators. There is little difference between the iconography decoratingtemples and that of private buildings. Gateways represent the dividingline between the inner and outer worlds and as such are the recipientsof some of the most fantastic carvings. 

As well as portraying deities anddemons, the carvers included many scenes from public life and there aremany temple surfaces enriched with the antics of the Dutch Colonialistsincluding scenes of bicycles, drunken parties, car break-downs and evenaeroplanes. Bali's modern-day center of stonecarving is the village ofBatubulan, situated half-way between Denpasar and Gianyar.

 Althoughyou can see excellent examples of Balinese stone carving all over the island,the temples in the North tend to be much more unrestrained (with the exceptionof Pura Puseh in Batubulan). If you are planning on visiting Northern Baliit is well worth taking the time to visit Pura Meduwe Karang in Kubutambahan,Pura Dalem in Jagaraga and Pura Beji near Singaraja. In order to see thework of Bali's most famous stonecarver and accomplished artist, I GustiNyoman Lempad, visit Pura Sagen Agung in Ubud.