Taman Ayun Temple
Moated royal ancestor temple with tiered meru shrines that appears to float on water.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Taman Ayun Temple traces its founding in 1634, when Gusti Agung Putu, the first king of Mengwi, built a moated ancestor shrine for his family alone, ringed by water meant to echo Mount Mahameru rising from a cosmic ocean. You'll hear about the split gates and courtyards that climb toward that illusion, and the tiered wooden meru shrines inside marking rungs of holiness. Listen for what the guide traces happening to the kingdom of Mengwi itself by the late 1800s, and what part of its story survived regardless.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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