Puri Pemecutan

Puri Pemecutan is the seat of the Pemecutan royal family, one of the ruling houses of the former kingdom of Badung, whose lands are now Denpasar and the surrounding south of Bali. The palace lies on Jalan Thamrin on the west side of the city centre, a short walk from Kumbasari market and Pasar Badung.

It is a lived-in family compound rather than a polished showpiece: a series of courtyards with pavilions, carved and painted gates, shrines, and rooms hung with photographs and portraits of the royal family. Some areas are private, but visitors are generally welcome to look around the public courtyards when appropriately dressed. Ask at the entrance, and give ceremonies in progress a wide berth.

In the 19th century Badung was ruled by allied royal courts at Pemecutan and Denpasar. When a Dutch expedition landed at Sanur in September 1906, they refused to surrender. On 20 September the Denpasar court walked out in white ceremonial dress into Dutch gunfire in a puputan, a ritual fight to the death; later the same day the Pemecutan court did the same, and both palaces burned. The site of the Denpasar palace is now Taman Puputan square.

The Pemecutan family later rebuilt their palace, and the bale kulkul, the tower holding the wooden alarm drum, is said to be the one structure that survived the fire.