The Museum of Le Mayeur

Le Mayeur Museum in Denpasar Bali

Born in Brussels, Belgium on February 9th 1880 in a high-class family, Adrian-Jean Le Mayeur got his painting talent from his parents. His latest education in architecture was achieved at Libre University. Forbidden by his father when attempted to develop his talent, he decided to leave his family by hanging around the world to seek for a right place for his talent improvement.

Le Mayeur arrived at Bali in 1932 in Singaraja City then continued a journey to Denpasar City before decided to stay in Sanur Beach. In the beginning, he just wanted to set an eight-month visit to Bali, after knowing the charm of Sanur Beach and beautiful girls of surrounding location, splashed in his mind to build a home and painting workshop in the location. A famous legong dancer named Ni Nyoman Pollok drew his heart to marry her when she became his painting model.

Unfortunately, this couple did not have any son until the end of their life. In fact, Ni Pollok was eager to have son but Le Mayeur denied it considering that she was his painting model. Le Mayeur was afraid of Ni Pollok‘s pregnancy would make her body was not beautiful anymore.

Their home and painting workshop were later on dedicated to government to be functioned as museum by his testament written in 1957. Finally, their home and painting workshop are given a name Le Mayeur Museum.

Le Mayeur is famous as impressionist and naturalist painter. Moreover, he also had tendency to paint the beauty of Balinese girls. Inside the museum, you can watch his works and historical properties such as chair, carved table, bed, wardrobe, ceramic vase, silver alliances, earthenware, and some sculptures.

At least there are 88 work arts of Le Mayeur from 1921 to 1957 showing his impressionist style. Besides using canvas, he also used other mediums for painting such as hardboard, three-ply, paper, and gunnysack. The last one was used by him remembering the difficulty of getting canvas from Belgium, so he decided to use it on the era of Japanese colonialism.

Museum of Le Mayeur Location

Le Mayeur Museum is situated in Sanur Village, Denpasar City, Bali, Indonesia. From the centre of Denpasar City, you can access the location by any public transportation like Indian taxi. Those Indian taxi will take you to the end of Hang Tuah Street then continue to the destination around 70 km away.

The museum is opened for public at 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. for Saturday to Thursday. On Friday, open from 8 to 12.30 a.m. On holidays, the museum is closed. IDR 2.000 for adult and IDR 1.000 for children. For group, more than 10 people, adult visitors only pay IDR 1.000 and IDR 500 for children. Typical foods of Bali Island can be easily found along the coast of Sanur Beach for you who are eager to taste it. Completing your visit, you can buy souvenirs around the location with reasonable price.

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Reog Ponorogo

Once upon a time, the King of Bantar Angin Kingdom named Kelana Swadana was going to propose for marriage to a beautiful girl, the daughter of Kediri King. Unfortunately, Kelana Swadana`s journey to Kediri was stopped because of the cruel blockade done by a group of wild animals namely Singobarong which guarded the area of Lodaya forest, in which Kelana Swadana had to pass it to reach Kediri. A fierce combat between Singobarong and the entourage of Kelana Swadana could not be avoided anymore at the time.

Commemorating the story above, a traditional performing art namely Reog ponorogo is held. The order of a Reog performance follows the order of the story about the fierce combat between Kelana Swadana and Singobarong. A Reog performance is usually begun by six or eight men – dancers – in black clothes and wearing red masks. Those dancers perform a lively dance representing the angered Singobarong in the story of Kelana Swadana. The next order in a Reog performance is a stately dance performed by around six to eight girls – in some other performance my also be performed by men in women`s dress – presenting kuda kepang (a plaited bamboo sheet shaping out like a horse) dance.

The second fragment of a Reog performance is the core which is greatly influenced by a situation wherein the Reog performance is taking place. A Reog performance is dominated by love story when someone holding marriage celebration invites a Reog performance group. Otherwise, a Reog performance will be dominated by bravery and heroic story when it is held to commemorate Indonesia Independence Day.

The end of a Reog performance is signed by the appearance of Singobarong performed by a man wearing a big mask representing Singobarong in the story of Kelana Swadana. The Singobarong mask is usually weighting around 50 to 60 kilograms but few people know that Singobarong mask is worn by a man only by biting a branch of wood installed behind the mask. The only special man with magical and supernatural powers can perform the figure of Singobarong in a Reog performance.

For you who want to see directly a Reog performance, just come to Ponorogo District, East Java, on August 17th, along the Indonesia Independence Day. Not only Reog performance, but also cultural festival and parade are usually organized at the time.

A Reog performance is usually organized in a special occasion such as an Independence Day or a marriage ceremony. A Reog performance needs vast space since in the middle of the performance, they – the dancers – are inserted the spirit of dead people hence the performance seems so liar. Warok – the Reog group leader – recites some mantras asking for successful performance, prior to the performance begins.

There is no strict story order within a Reog performance. The dancers commonly follow the scenario arranged by a warok, however. The interaction between the dancers and the warok should be intensified well during a Reog performance. By that way, a Reog performance seems so attractive enough since sometimes, there is a good interaction happening between Reog dancers with the audiences coming to watch the performance.

Reog Ponorogo Location

In almost sub-districts in Ponorogo District, East Java Province, you can easily find Reog performances that are organized by individual – in a marriage ceremonies – or institution – public cultural parade. For the routine performance organized monthly or annually, you can find them in the heart of Ponorogo City.

You can reach Ponorogo District by route from Surabaya, the capital of East Java Province, for about 200 km. You can take any public transport to reach the location. You can easily find some hotels ranging from the cheapest to most expensive quality around Ponorogo District.

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The State Museum of Jambi Province

The State Museum of Jambi Province - 13.350 square meters in width – was built in 1981 above the 4.000 square meters land. The physical appearance of the museum implies the Kajang Loko architecture, typical of Jambi Province‘s traditional architecture.  For note, the museum has been officially open for public since June 6th, 1988.

Numerous historical and cultural collections of Jambi Province are kept well inside the museum. And then, those collections are divided into some categories such as biology, geology, archaeology, ethnography, and numismatology.

At least there are 2.855 historical and cultural collections that are kept well inside the state museum of Jambi Province. Five of them – two golden statues of Avolokiteswara, heptagonal golden medal made of Turkey, golden belt and necklace – are the icons of the museum. The discovery of Avolokiteswara statues happened in Rantau Kapas Tuo in 1991, while the heptagonal golden medal – dated in 1928 A.D. – is a tributary of Ottoman Empire from Turkey. Far before being given to the state museum of Jambi Province, the medal had ever been kept by a royal family in Malaysia.

Some other historical properties of the museum are the old money machine stamp, ancient canoe, Jambi traditional costumes, and many more. Discover numerous valuable properties within, suit for you who are undertaking a research in Jambi Province.

Museum Location

The State Museum of Jambi Province lies on Urip Sumoharjo Street, Telanai Pura Sub-district, Jambi City, Jambi Province Indonesia. You can easily access the museum for its strategic location, in the heart of Jambi City. You can take any public transport to reach the location from Sulthan Thaha Syaifuddin airport for about 30 minutes. You can easily find some hotels to stay longer around the location. Moreover, restaurants and food tents are also available there as well.

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