Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA) was established for a purpose. Founded by Agung Rai, a Balinese who has devoted his life to the preservation and development of Balinese art and culture, the museum was officially opened on June 9, 1996 by Prof. Dr. Ing. Wardiman Djojonegoro, Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. The museum is administered by ARMA Foundation set up on May13th 1996.

The permanent exhibition of paintings by Balinese, Indonesian and foreign artists include the collections of the ARMA Foundation and works on loan from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Agung Rai.

The collection ranges from traditional to contemporary, including classical Kamasan painting on tree bark, masterpieces by Batuan artists of the 1930s and 1940s and the only works to be seen on the island of Bali by 19th century Javanese artist Raden Saleh and Syarif Bustaman.

Prominent are works by Balinese masters such as I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, Ida Bagus Made, Anak Agung Gede Sobrat and I Gusti Made Deblog.

Foreign artists who lived and worked in Bali are represented by Willem Gerard Hofker, Rudolf Bonnet, and Willem Dooijewaard among others. The works of German painter Walter Spies have a special place in the collection because of his important contribution to the development of Balinese arts.

ARMA is more than a museum. It is a centre for visual and performing arts, allowing the visitor to enjoy the permanent collection of paintings, special temporary exhibitions, theatre performances, dance, music and painting classes, bookshop, library and reading room, cultural workshops, conferences, seminars and training programs. Its vision is to become an internationally renowned museum of Balinese and Indonesian culture by organizing events showing the uniqueness and diversity of this culture. The museum provides many quality services to people from various cultural backgrounds. It serves people who wish to experience and learn about Bali’s unique cultural heritage. ARMA functions as a living entity, always on the look out for new opportunities to sustain the Balinese arts.

Please visit Balerung stage in Peliatan to witness our routine performances of the distinctive music and dance of Peliatan, in both the classical and kebyar styles.

The routine performances at Balerung stage include an instrumental piece, a welcome dance, two classical Legong dances, Kebyar Terompong, and a short dance drama beginning with the Barong dance.

Our regular performances at Balerung stage are held every Friday at 7.30pm.
In addition to our scheduled tourist performances, Balerung also plays a role in the conservation and preservation of the special Peliatan style of dance and music, which has been passed down to us through the generations, as a legacy from the late Anak Agung Gde Ngurah Mandera.

We hope you will visit Balerung stage soon to enjoy our performance of classical Legong and kebyar dances.  By doing so, you will contribute to the conservation of Peliatan’s special style of music and dance.

Thank you.

The dance show takes place at the Puri Agung Peliatan in Ubud. It is one of the most recommended Dance Show that you can enjoy in Bali. There are Legong Dance, Oleg Tambulilingan Dance, Pendet Dance and sometimes you can also witness the Gebyar Terompong and Gebyar Duduk and ended with Barong and Rangda Dance, then Keris Dance.

The history of Gunung Sari gamelan and dance group began on November 24th, 1926. Puri Kaleran Peliatan was holding an event called mebarong-barongan (it is a common activity to celebrate Galungan day), some members of this group intended to make the Arja Laki dance. After the event, the group became so popular and decided to make a goup of gamelan orchestra called Sekaa Gong. The first main member A.A.Gede Mandera as kelian, Gusti Kompyang Pangkung as pemucuk, Made Lebah, Pande Made Gerondong, Pande Made Gandut etc.

One day there was a foreign tourist named Jhon Cost who offered this group to perform in Paris on 1931, at that time the journey was still using a ferry-boat no aeroplane to get to Paris and it took six months trip one way. At Paris, they performed well, with various Balinese traditional dance such as Legong, Janger, Kecak, and Joged. When the group back to Bali, they have the money to make their gamelan and asked the best Pande Gong (artist specialize in creating gong) to craft all of the instruments. After a long process finally, the Gamelan set has been successfully crafted, and they name the gamelan set Gunung Sari, and the group is now called Sekaa Gong Gunung Sari.