If you are bored with the hustle and bustle atmosphere in the urban center of Bali, you can try to challenge yourself. Let’s find some alternative tourist destinations that are still hidden in remote areas. Like the Lontar Library Museum in Karangasem Regency. Karangasem indeed has several attractions that haven’t been exposed, even though it has a high selling point as an entertainment venue. So, what can you find in the Lontar Library Museum? You can find the answer below.

Lontar Library Museum

In the Lontar Library Museum, you can see thousands of collection of notes written on dried palm leaves. In Balinese culture, Lontar is an ancient manuscript written on dried palm leaves using Old Javanese script and Kawi or Balinese language. Local people said that the ancestors liked to record a lot of rules, procedures, tips on life to death, and even how to take care of plants. Those records are written on lontar leaves to make it able to last a long time. Sure enough, the collection of writings in the museum is hundreds of years old. Thanks to this lontar writing, all the rules of life that have been made since years ago can still be preserved by the Balinese people to this day.

The museum has collected nearly 700 saucers and thousands of copies of lontar contents from various museums, including the Leiden Museum in the Netherlands. Some of the collections that were placed in the museum also came from Penabah Penukuh residents. The contents of these palms are diverse. For example, medicine content was written on Lontar Usada, also Babad is about history, Astakosala about architecture, Asta Brata about leadership, Cararma Dharma about culinary, Dolanan about games, Dharma Poisoning about agriculture, Kakawin on literary works such as Ramayana, Mahabharata, and many more. 

All these records are well-preserved thanks to Jero Mangku, the priests who are trusted and responsible for maintaining all these records. In addition to guarding, he’s also responsible to rewrite the palm leaf notes that begin to become brittle, faded, or damaged. 

In this museum, you can witness the procedures for writing on palm leaves. In addition, you can participate in various interesting activities. After walking around, you can learn to read and write the Balinese script. There will be special instructors that will guide you. After memorizing the letters, you have the opportunity to write anything on a palm leaf. You can bring this article home as a memento from the Lontar Library Museum. 

The Lontar Library Museum is a perfect place if you want an educational and historical holiday. This museum is located in the Village of Penaban Hamlet, Karangasem District, Karangasem Regency. The museum is open from 08:00 Wita to 17:00 Wita.