Bali Museum Named Among Most Beautiful In The World 

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Bali is home to some exceptional museums.

From living museums where tourists can truly immerse themselves in Balinese culture to galleries showcasing the rarest and finest of Balinese arts and cultural artefacts, for culture-curious tourists, Bali has a wealth of opportunities to learn and engage. 

One of Bali’s most important museums, the Saka Museum in Jimbaran, has just been given one of the most prestigious awards in the world.

Jimbaran’s Saka Museum has just been listed on the Prix Versailles Most Beautiful Museums in the World list for 2025. Joined the likes of Grand Palais in Paris, Audeum in Seoul, and Kunstsilo in Kristiansand, Norway. 

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Only seven museums have received the prestigious accolade, with Diriyah Art Futures in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha completing this year’s list of winners. 

In a statement the Secretary General of the Prix Versailles, Jérôme Gouadain, shared “The World’s Most Beautiful Museums List for 2025 provides an extraordinary and particularly re-markable survey of the latest museum constructions, representing both the exuberance of youthful creativity and the maturity of the skills that inspire these achievements and make them possible.”

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He continued “By fostering their own special ambiance, tailored to each site’s specific mission, these places deliver singular experiences to their visitors, encouraging them to open their minds both outwards and inwards. Never before has the entire world exhibited such a clear need to recall how deeply rooted it is in free, united humanity.”

Prix Versailles created the architectural awards to “promote intelligent sustainability, in which culture serves and transcends the notion of the environment.” The Saka Museum in Jimbaran is a worthy winner of such a high accolade.

As Prix Versailles explained, “Devised by Mitsubishi Jisho Design, the new museum embodies the Balinese philosophy of Giri Segara, the sacred balance between mountain and sea, symbolizing the interconnected forces of spiritual power and life’s continuous transformation.”

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Adding “That principle is reflected in the sloping roof, which visually bridges the mountains and the ocean, while the reflecting pool surrounding the museum mirrors the shifting moonlight in a metaphor for introspection and renewal.”

Tourists, whether interested in Balinese culture or architecture, will be amazed by the Saka Museum’s showcase. The museum is an ode to the Balinese Saka Calendar, which is used alongside the traditional Pawukon calendar, which is famously 210 days long and oriented around the moon cycles.

Current exhibitions include Kasanga, a tribute to the ninth month of the Balinese calendar, which is traditionally deemed as a time of profound transformation and renewal.

Kasanga falls over what is known in the Gregorian calendar as March, and includes the most sacred day of the year in Bali, Nyepi Day, also known as the holy day of silence.

For tourists interested in Bali’s landscape, the Subak: The Ancient Order of Bali is an essential cultural element to add to the vacation itinerary.

The immersive exhibition invited visitors to experience the ancient wisdom of the Subak system come to life and to embrace the opportunity to discover the enduring value of indigenous Balinese knowledge in the modern world.

General admission tickets to the Saka Museum start from IDR 200,000 per adult and IDR 100,000 per child. Tickets can be booked in advance on the Saka Museum website. The museum is open from 10 am to 6 pm every day, and general admission includes access to all exhibitions on show. For guests of the Ayana Resort in Jimbaran, entry to the Saka Museum, built on the ground on which it is, is free, though booking is highly advised.