Bali has known about museums since 1910, after the Dutch occupied the entire island. At that time the Dutch were interested in Balinese culture and wanted to preserve it. The Hindia Belanda Goverment began construction of buildings for that purpose. The architectural style of these buildings was a combination of the traditional architectures of the "pura" (temple) and the "puri" (palace).
In addition, the Goverment also sought actively to collect artifacts to display. These collections were made possible by the donations of art lovers, enabling the museum to acquire objects dart from the people. Most of the collection including statues, masks, pupets, paintings and so forth, was comprised of objects which were sacred and worshiped by the people. But because of their intelligent approach, the govennent was able to collect them for the museum. Unfortunately. in 1917 there w..is great volcanic eruption in Bali. Hundreds of temples and buildings were destroyed by lava flows and the earhquake of Mount Batur. The museum building which had been establish collapsed but after overcoming many obstacles setbacks the building was finished in 1925. During the past 7 years it was used for temporary exhibitions, while continuing to collect artefacts and on December 8th, 1932 the Hindia Belanda Goverment formalized it as an ethnographical museum called "Bali Museum".