Bali Impressive Huge Statues in GWK Cultural Park

Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park, GWK Cultural Park for short, was founded to offer the spiritual aspect of Balinese Art and Culture, and the monumental iconic statue, Garuda Wisnu Kencana is currently under construction.

GWK Cultural Park is located on a hill in Ungasan and has a vast area of 60 ha. It takes about 30 minutes for driving from The Mulia in Nusa Dua where the Maruruns were staying at.

Marurun knew about GWK Cultural Park for the first time in her 6th visit to Bali in April 2016.

Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue is the symbol of the Hindu God Vishnu riding the mythical bird Garuda who became his trusted companion. The Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue, once completed, will be one of the world’s tallest monumental statues, and its height will be 120 meters, taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York City.

The construction of the Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue started in 1997, and currently, each Wisnu statue and Garuda statue are under construction in the different areas, WISNU PLAZA and GARUDA PLAZA.

GARUDA PLAZA

Garuda, who is a sacred bird from mythology, is described as having a body of half-man and half-bird and is known as the personal ride of the God Vishnu, and a symbol of life, heaven, loyalty, and order, as well as one who can freely go back and forth between heaven and earth.

Moreover, Garuda is the main part of the Indonesian national emblem and is also used as the name of the Indonesian national airline, Garuda Indonesian Airways.

You can imagine from the above picture against the statue how big the Garuda statue is!

As of April 2016, only the head was completed but was already enough to take our breath away.

If you take a picture sitting on the stairs in front of the Garuda statue, it’ll look like the above picture.

The above picture was shot from the side of the statue. A sharp beak like an eagle is one of the Garuda’s characteristics. Once completed, the width from the left and right wings of the Garuda statue will be 64 meters, I can’t wait to see the complete figure.

WISNU PLAZA

Wisnu Plaza is located at the highest point in GWK Cultural Park and the upper body statue of the Hindu God Vishnu is exhibited as the main part of Garuda Wisnu Kencana.

Even though the current height is about 20 meters, it’s already quite huge so I am really looking forward to the completion of the statue.

It seems that the appearance of the dignified and sublime Hindu God Vishnu makes us feel it is more awe-inspiring against the clear blue sky.

The above picture against the huge and sublime Wisnu statue became one of the wonderful photos with lasting memories for the Maruruns!

Remember you have to cover your legs with a sarong which you can rent there when stepping into Wisnu Plaza if you wear short pants.

There is a temple close by Wisnu statue which foreign visitors can have a Bali Hindu prayer experience and the temple is enshrined by holy spring water.

The Maruruns’ prayer experience which was sprinkled with holy water on our head several times was our first experience and became one of our precious memories.

KURA KURA PLAZA

Kura Kura Plaza is located just down the stairs out of Wisnu Plaza, and turtle sculptures are installed in the middle of and around the fountain, and a pattern of the stone pavement looks like a turtle shell.

Turtle sculpture is described as the foothold point that guards the trembling of the earth in mythology so is believed to guard buildings against natural disasters.

Kura Kura Plaza is Marurun’s favorite place where the harmony of gamelan melody, water fountain sounds, and birds singing was very comfortable and made me stand quietly there for a while.

LOTUS POND

Lotus Pond, the largest outdoor area, spreads just in front of Garuda statue and various world scale events and concerts are held there.

GARUDA CINEMA

In Garuda Cinema, various Balinese dances such as Kecak and Barong are held for free every day so the Maruruns enjoyed watching a Barong dance held as a morning show.

Garuda Cinema is an outdoor theater so it’s very hot there. You’d better put on some sunscreen.

The Barong dance we watched was arranged to modern performance in a good meaning and a little vulgar performance in a bad meaning, so it was a little disappointing for me. Meanwhile, the gamelan performance was beautiful and stunning enough to move us.

Overall Impressions and Advice from our visiting GWK Cultural Park

GWK Cultural Park was quite good overall as the spot to take photos as the wonderful memories of travelling to Bali and as the spot to be able to learn about the culture rooted in Balinese Hinduism and the Hindu God which comes from mythology.

I am really looking forward to the completion of the Garuda Wisnu Kencana statue and want to visit GWK Cultural Park again even though it is still under construction when there will be a great amount of progress.

There is a nice restaurant, a food court and souvenir shops in the park, and the bathrooms are clean and equipped with flush toilets, so you can enjoy without any worries. However, it’ll get very hot since most of the facilities are outdoors, so I recommend visiting there during the morning.

You can read reviews of other travellers about GWK Cultural Park on TripAdvisor.

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The Maruruns try taking pictures at almost all comic foregrounds when we find them😝

GWK Cultural Park: http://gwkbali.com/

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