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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 Colossieum,
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. |
