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The
only air-conditioned room in the Matahari complex, the Elizabethan Library with
its cozy Victorian chairs, cantabile classical music, and hundreds of antique
books offers a resplendent suggestion of the Tudor dynasty with a seasoning of
Elizabeth’s reign. It’s a salon where guests of different nationalities meet
and share their experiences of traveling in Bali and around the world. The books
collected in this library include a limited 1901 complete Shakespeare, a
selection of Dickens’ work about a hundred years old, and
more than a hundred issues of "National Geographic" magazine 30 to 50
years old. Opulent, ceremonious, and colorful are words that epitomize the
quintessence of Balinese culture. The ornate European decoration combined with
the Balinese interior architectural installation art extends the quintessence
and the international texture of modern life in Bali. A golden clock set dating
to the period of Napoleon III about 150 year ago sits on top of an antique Krell
piano. The clock consists of three Greek Mythology allegories of Terpsichore,
Calliope, and Urania, which match the three major goddesses in Balinese Hinduism
-- Saraswati, Indra, and Lukismi. The piano is an heirloom from the American
inn-master’s grandfather, who loved dogs as much as his own life. Pal, his
black cocker spaniel-setter dog in the 1940s and '50s
"played" two piano pieces, “Chopin” standing on his hind
legs and “Boogie Woogie” running along the keyboard on all fours.
The story of Pal’s invitation to play on TV appeared in "Jack and
Jill" magazine. People often associate the scratches on the piano with the
dogs from the Valse from Chopin that depicts a small dog chasing after its own
tail. Besides world literature, the library also includes painting folios of
Rembrandt, Leonardo Davinci, and Pablo Picasso, monographs of Michelangelo and
Francisco Goya, Romanticism from Jean-Clay, L’amour Bleau from Cecile
Beurdeley, The Age of Renaissance from Thames & Hudson Publishing
Company, guide books of customs and tours of Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris,
London, Prague, and man-made wonders including Mecca, the Forbidden City, the
Tower of London, and the Colossieu m,
etc. A variety of music is also available on CD and cassette. Sitting in the
Elizabethan Library, guests can browse the lengthy, splendid culture of human
beings.
The
Elizabethan Library is open daily from 7 am to 11 pm. Guests can check out the
books with the assistance of Matahari butlers by filling out
library cards. We hope the Elizabethan Library will add to the cultural
content of your deep culture tour in Bali. |
