Pura Taman Saraswati

Pura Taman Saraswati, officially Pura Taman Kemuda Saraswati and sometimes called the Ubud Water Palace, is a temple in central Ubud dedicated to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning, literature and the arts. It was commissioned by Prince Cokorda Gede Agung Sukawati of the Ubud royal family and designed by I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, the sculptor and ritual architect whose work fills so many of the town's buildings. Construction began in 1951 and was completed in 1952.

The temple's best-known feature is the water garden in the outer area. A large lotus pond, edged with frangipani trees, fills the space in front of the temple, and a straight raised path runs through it towards the gates, lined with carved stone sculptures, many of them by Lempad himself. When the lotuses are in flower the pond is the most photographed spot in town, and early in the day it is calm enough to enjoy before the day's visitors arrive.

Beyond the pond, three red-brick gateways lead towards the inner sanctum. Just inside stands a screening wall that forms the back of a 3-metre statue of the demon Jero Gede Mecaling. The inner courtyard holds a padmasana shrine carved with a cosmic turtle and serpents and topped by an empty golden throne for the supreme god, along with a pavilion holding three empty thrones for the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, meru towers and a pavilion that houses the temple's barong figures.

The inner temple is a place of worship, so visitors usually see the complex from the outer area around the pond. Lempad's role here is worth noting: he was a sculptor and undagi, a traditional ritual architect, who moved to Ubud after leaving the royal court of Blahbatuh and was later employed by the Sukawati family, and his carving can also be seen at Ubud Palace and in the drawings at Museum Puri Lukisan and the Neka Art Museum.

Allow 20 to 30 minutes. The temple is one of the most popular landmarks in central Ubud and an easy stop on a walk around the town centre, and Museum Puri Lukisan is only a couple of hundred metres away, so the two fit together well in a morning.