Meeting Anhar Setjadibrata:
Bali’s most prominent collector of Fine Indonesian Art and Owner of the Tugu Hotels and Restaurants.

Anhar Setjadibrata is the quintessential Renaissance Man, a qualified lawyer and medical physician. He also is a successful hotelier and the owner of a priceless collection of fine Indonesian and culturally related works of antique arts and craft.
Setjadibrata’s passion for the art and history of his homeland began when he was a poor medical student living in Java. At the age of 25, in 1972, he purchased the first pieces of what, today, makes up an incredible collection. Setjadibrata had completed his medical studies and was on the brink of his final year of internship that would see him take the Government Medical examination and culminate achieving his license to practice when political upheavals forced the postponement of the examinations.
Not wishing to leave his chosen profession, he accepted a position with an international pharmaceutical company as a medical representative. His job took him all over Indonesia visiting with doctors and nurses working in the villages on the islands beyond Java. He traveled to Bali, Nusa Tenggara, West Timor, Kalimantan and Borneo. Here he came across people who were discarding the antiques and relics of their culture believing them to be nothing more than old and useless, not modern and therefore out of style.
Setjadibrata saw the beauty and the history and felt compelled to save as much as he could despite the local’s refutation of the value of the works. This innocent lack of knowledge provoked Setjadibrata to action and he began to work as a non-professional guide to visiting academics and interested travelers to introduce them to the rich culture of the archipelago, that the local people were sadly unaware of.
An elderly professor who was studying the legend of the Ramayana engaged his services and asked Setjadibrata to take him to a place on the island of Bali to meet with a stranger. The place where this meeting was to take place was near an old temple, nestled amidst bright green rice fields and along a broad sandy beach. Here Setjadibrata saw the most remarkable sight, a sunset that defied description, an event so spectacular it would remain with him, indelibly printed on his imagination, for many, many years.
As twilight dimmed the world around him the stranger approached and placed into the hands of the professor a stone bowl. A Cupu Manik, it was from the 16th century and used by priests to sprinkle holy water onto those who suffered sickness and disease. Although still quite a novice collector, Setjadibrata saw immediately the cultural value of this treasured bowl.
From that moment on Setjadibrata began to collect the objects and antiques that were prized by overseas collectors and dealers and he learned their cultural value and history. For Setjadibrata his collection became a quest to save Indonesia’s rich cultural heritage from disappearing overseas. In order to best understand his own region’s history he studied the ancient stories of the islands and learned how to value objects. He spent time in museums, attending reproduction workshops and engaging in lengthy discussions with his fellow collectors.
Frustrated with the wait for his medical exam Setjadibrata enrolled in law school and entered the practice of law in 1977 following his graduation. This did not subdue his passion for collecting, which was not motivated by financial gain, rather it was driven by the desire, fuelled by his youthful idealism, to learn more about the rich history of his countries past.
“I have never thought of collecting for profit” he remarks, “I was only thinking of a way to save these treasures because they are a part of Indonesia’s history, history that I can touch and feel.”
As his collection expanded over the years he came to realize that “my collection must no longer only speak to me, it must speak to everyone of my country’s rich history and cultural heritage”.
After twelve years of law Setjadibrata decided to build his dreams and in 1990 he opened his first ‘boutique museum’ hotel in the East Java city of Malang and used the beautiful building to house an overflow of treasures. Today Tugu Malang is the only hotel in Indonesia to have won an award for Architectural Excellence. It also houses one of the largest private collections of Javanese, Chinese and Dutch colonial antiques and is ranked among the 101 Best Hotels in the world.
As success followed success Setjadibrata remembered well the beloved Cupu Manik that had set him on his path, and over the years searched for it in collections the world over. One evening whilst visiting a friend and fellow collector he saw the bowl, the very same one and over a period of time, expense and effort he negotiated its procurement of this precious relic.
In creating the Tugu Hotel Bali and Villa Tugu Bali Setjadibrata says “We want Tugu Bali guests not only to enjoy a most unforgettable holiday in Indonesia, but also to become involved in Balinese traditions and to experience Indonesia through all their senses.”
Hotel Tugu Bali’s architecture and interior design reflect the art, culture and history of the archipelago of Indonesia, Bali in particular. The Grand Ceremonial House, The Wantilan Agung, where traditional dances are held, houses an art gallery that features Setjadibrata’s expansive collection of Indonesia’s art. Decorated with mythical giant guardians, the Boma Head carvings on the crossbeams and columns inspired by the ancient ceremonial houses of Bayung Gede. Here too the precious Cupu Manik is displayed.
Highlights of the cultural and antique collection are guardian statues from the 12th century, a 150 year-old wooden well, and immense 19th Century marble table. Entire rooms are devoted to the exhibition of art, antiques and relics of this wonderfully spiritually rich culture and its past of romance, heroism and devotion to beauty and the gods.
In keeping with Setjadibrata’s dreams, at Hotel Tugu Bali the art and culture of this wonderful string of islands speaks to everyone.