Ubud Palace

This guide to Ubud Palace in Bali starts with the 1917 earthquake that flattened pavilions inside the royal compound that had housed Bali's kings since the early 1800s, and the choice the family made in its wake: rebuild bigger and stranger, with dense stone carvings covering every surface. You'll hear about the carver whose chisel work made him famous across the rebuilt gateways, and how the reopened palace drew foreign artists like Walter Spies into what had been a quiet farming town. Listen for the gamelan at night, still played in the same courtyard the quake once tore apart.