Looking for a Bali Statue?

The best place to find an outstanding Bali statue is in the village of Batubulan (Moon stone) on the road between Denpasar and Ubud.

This place is known throughout the island for its decorative and playful carvings and many temples, courtyards, bridges, houses and hotels have statues or other pieces of art from Batubulan.

 

A Bali statue is decorated daily

 

Just like the masks and paintings the statues used to be made solely for decoration on temples and palaces. Since the volcanic stone used on Bali is easily influenced by the tropical weather the statues and carvings on temples and palaces have to be re-made ensuring and endless flow of work.

This has enabled families to pass on their skills for generations and making Batubulan what it is today.

Just take a look at one of the many stone carving shops on the main road and inside the alleys and you see little kids taking out their energy on big blocks of volcanic para stone.

 

Buddha's, Tikis or garden decorations you name it, they have it...

 

Maybe your first reaction would be to feel sorry for the kids thinking this is child labor but it isn't. The kids are going to school early in the morning and are getting a precious second education at the workshop. One day they will become a fine stone carver just like their father.

Even though they still make many ornaments for the temples you can find other 'pieces of art' as well. It all depends on what you are looking for. They have life-sized Buddha statues, huge elephants, Hawaiian Tiki statues (here too?), dolphins, Rama's, demons and many statues of temple guardians.

With lots of travelers paying a visit to Batubulan you would expect them them to be the best customers of this little village. But they are not. The Balinese themselves are the most frequent visitors here.

 

Carver working on a temple gate

 

They need guardian statues in front of their offices, hotels and restaurants, statues in their colorful courtyards and numerous carvings above the door.

Even most of the traditional Balinese doors are entirely made out of stone carvings. Some temples and in particular the temples of Buleleng in northern Bali have stunning carved decorations depicting Hindu stories and carvings of heaven and hell. These carvings are more humorous than nasty to look at.

If you like to have a Bali statue custom made or from a picture in a magazine, no problem, the stone carvers of Batubulan can replicate it for you. Just make sure that they ship the statue as well.