ARCHITECT ATLAS
Loading atlas
Pura Kehen

Pura Kehen

Photo: Esme Vos · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Bangli, Indonesia
Client / Owner
—
Year
Completed 1200
Access
Tickets required
Typology
Spiritual
Style
—

Pura Kehen is a Hindu temple in Cempaga, Bangli Regency, Bali, Indonesia, about 1.2 miles (2 km) north of Bangli's town center at the foot of a wooded hill. It was established at least by the 13th century and was formerly called Pura Hyang Api and Pura Hyang Kehen. Copper inscriptions from the late 9th, early 11th and 13th centuries mention it. It served as the royal temple of the Bangli Kingdom.

The temple is aligned north to south, with the northern end the highest point, and has outer, middle and inner zones. The terraced landscape is decorated with stone statues from the Ramayana. Three gateways mark the outer entrance, and the central one is a paduraksa, which is unusual there.

The inner sanctum holds an 11-tiered meru tower, the most sacred shrine, and a padmasana lotus shrine honoring Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. A banyan tree at least 400 years old stands in the outer sanctum.

Comments

  • Loading comments…
Be kind. Anyone can flag a comment for review.

Sign in

or

Your profile

3 to 24 letters, numbers, underscores or periods. It’s shown with your comments.

Contact us

Questions, corrections or ideas? Your message goes straight to the Architect Atlas owner.

Save to list

    Edit information

    We look the building up on Wikipedia for you. Architect Atlas lists buildings that have their own Wikipedia article: our test for notoriety and our source of truth.

        Typology
        Style (one to three)
        Photo (shown in a 4:3 frame)

        Drag and zoom to frame the building well. New photos are checked before they appear.

        Every change is checked before it goes live: facts against Wikipedia, photos by eye.