Bali rich culture its history recorded in legends and preserved in its religion and the peoples adherence to the traditions of their ancestors. Temples are everywhere, especially in the mountains. The most revered temple is on Gunung Agung, the tallest mountain.

Hindu Bali is a religion which owes its origins to India, but which has developed independently from its forebear. Hindu Bali celebrates its rituals in a highly dramatised form, which can be witnessed by visitors in the form of dance and performance at traditional festivals, and at secular performances.

The Balinese consider art to be a natural activity. Peasants by day, artists by night, they are masters in expressing their religious beliefs and rituals into items of great artistic value; from simple masks, statues and jewellery, to wall sized panels using materials such as wood, stone, coral, bone, silver and gold. Painting and performance complete the picture. It is no exaggeration to say that there are as many artists in Bali as there are people.

In Bali there is a fundamental integration of the performing arts into daily social and religious activities. No celebration or gathering is complete without music and dance. In Balinese religious life, where an elaborate calendar requires an extensive range of ceremonies to be performed, there is a consensus that each event must be accompanied by' musical performances. Such performances serve to entertain the gods as well as the human participants, enabling both to return home after the ritual with a feeling of well being and contentment.

The term gamelan refers not only to the instruments but also to the groups of musicians who play them. People participate in these groups from a very young age, and one is often surprised to hear intricate pieces being performed by children's groups in which the average age is only 12 years. In the villages, stitch groups may be formed for special festivals only to be disbanded as soon as the festival is over. Most groups play together for a long time, however - some for as long as 40 or 50 years with unchanged membership. Some groups even outlive their original membership and continue to exist as autonomous village institutions for hundreds of years.

A variety of materials are used in the production of instruments. Most gamelan consist of bronze keys in carved wooden frames suspended over bamboo resonators, together with a number of bronze gongs, drums, cymbals, flutes and an assortment of smaller percussion instruments. But there are bamboo gamelan ensembles as well - entire orchestras composed of bamboo marimbas or flutes.

Dynamic and agile, Balinese dance is exciting theatre, filled with sharp corner-turnings, intricate coordination of eyeball, finger, neck and shoulder movements. entertaining, elegant and captivating, the dances are performed according to strict tradition; the players are forbidden to improvise the movements learned and perfected since early childhood.

The traditional style of paintings depict aspects of religious life or mystical characters, painted in sombre hues of yellow, red and black, or sometimes in plain charcoal. Contemporary adaptation and external influences have resulted in new themes: often in vibrant colors, featuring people, animals and abstract imagery, that are different yet uniquely Balinese.

Strong relationship between Balinese culture and the hindu religion makes it well preserved , as long as Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa owner of the universe still in every hindu`s people mind Balinese culture will keep moving and growing.