We would recommend this temple for any tourist visiting Bali. At the bottom of a lush river valley running through the little town of Tampaksiring just northeast of Ubud, this Bali’s largest ancient temple complexes are named the Candi Gunung Kawi. Comprising a collection of ancient ‘Candi’ or shrine reliefs carved directly into the face of a rock cliff, this is definitely one of the most stunningly unique archeological sites besides being an important sacred place for the Balinese.
Overlooking the sacred Pakerisan River, which also flows by the Tirta Empul sacred Water Temple a kilometer up north, the main complex consists of 10 shrines – memorials cut out of the rock cliff face in imitation of actual buildings. They stand in awe-inspiring 8m-high sheltered niches cut into the sheer cliff face.They take their general form from the free-standing ancient temples or Candis of East Java, which show very similar architectural forms and decorations. There are four shrines on the west side and another five on the eastern side of the river, while to the south across the valley hides another.Evidences suggest that these Candis were probably once protected between two massive rock-hewn cloisters.
In their shape, the candis resemble small buildings surmounted by massive three-tiered roofs bearing nine stylized lingam-yoni fertility symbols. Each candi actually looks like a doorway, carved in relief, but going nowhere. Instead, there is a small chamber beneath the candi, accessed by a sloping shaft from the front, in which a stone plaque (peripih) with nine holes containing symbolic offerings of food and metal objects, representing the necessities of earthly existence, were placed.
Small stone caves that actually serve as meditation sites complement the shrines, where Buddhist monks used to sit and contemplate. Indeed, Balinese history has shown that the two religions coexisted and sometimes fused in harmony. Across the river and beside the first rock shrine complex is the functional temple courtyard that the locals essentially refer to as Pura Gunung Kawi. Inside are what you would commonly find in any other Balinese temple courtyard, complete with various shrines surrounding the temple’s main grand pavilion or ‘bale’.
