Pura Tanah Lot, Bali, Indonesia
Posted by: 
Tealby
S 08° 37.260 E 115° 05.200
50L E 289445 N 9046521
The stunningly beautiful Pura Tanah Lot seaside temple is definitely worth visiting.
Waymark Code: WM6R6W
Location: Indonesia
Date Posted: 07/12/2009
Views: 27
This iconic temple sits on a large offshore rock which has been continuously shaped over the years by the ocean. Tourists can pay a small entry fee to visit the area, but are not permitted inside the actual temple.
From Wikipedia: Tanah Lot is claimed to be the work of the 15th century priest Nirartha. During his travels along the south coast he saw the rock-island's beautiful setting and rested there. Some fishermen saw him, and bought him gifts. Nirartha then spent the night on the little island. Later he spoke to the fishermen and told them to build a shrine on the rock for he felt it to be a holy place to worship the Balinese sea gods.
The Tanah Lot temple was built and has been a part of Balinese mythology for centuries. The temple is one of seven sea temples around the Balinese coast. Each of the sea temples were established within eyesight of the next to form a chain along the south-western coast.
At the base of the rocky island, poisonous sea snakes are believed to guard the temple from evil spirits and intruders. As well as one giant snake which also protects the temple, which was created from Nirartha’s scarf when he established the island.
In 1980 the temple’s rock face was starting to crumble and the area around and inside the temple started to become dangerous. The Japanese government provided a loan to the Indonesia government of Rp. 800 billion to conserve the historic temple and other beach locations around the island of Bali. As a result, over one third of the rock which can be seen is artificial rock created under the Japanese upgrade works.
Visit Instructions:
Include in your log one or two complete sentences. Logs containing a few words like "visited it" are subject to deletion. Photos of the Hindu temple are strongly encouraged when permitted otherwise please refrain from taking pictures inside and in any case, generally have respect for the religious nature of the site.
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