Memorial
Bali Bombing Memorial Audio Guide (Tugu Peringatan Bom Bali)
Two hundred and two names carved in black marble on the site of Paddy's Pub: the place where Bali chose remembrance over fear, with an empty plot across the road as a reminder that the work is not finished.
- 20 min of audio
- Historical memory
On the night of 12 October 2002, shortly after eleven, bombs went off at Paddy's Pub and the Sari Club on Jalan Legian in Kuta, and a third device exploded near the United States consulate in Denpasar. On the second anniversary, 12 October 2004, this monument of carved stone bearing the names of all the victims was inaugurated on the site of Paddy's Pub.
Across the road, the plot where the Sari Club stood spent two decades as a car park, amid offers, counter-offers and an unauthorised commercial project. Only in 2022 was a deal closed to set that land aside for a peace park, after more than ten years of failed negotiations.
Highlights
- Wall of names — 202 victims from more than twenty countries, grouped by nationality
- Carved stone frame in the manner of a temple gateway
- Flagpoles with national flags on both sides of the monument
- Sari Club site — future peace park, secured in 2022
- Open at all hours and lit at night
On Jalan Legian, a nightlife street in Kuta, stands the monument that many know as Bali’s Ground Zero. It occupies the site of Paddy’s Pub, one of the two venues where bombs went off on the night of 12 October 2002, in the attack carried out by the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. 202 people died, among them 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians, and another 209 were injured. Anyone looking for what to see at the Bali Bombing Memorial will find a carved stone frame, a large marble plaque with all the names and, right opposite, an empty plot still waiting for its peace park. The history of the Bali Bombing Memorial, the architecture of its stone and that of the pending plot are best understood standing on the pavement, with the audio guide, on a sober route of three stops.
The memorial lies on Kuta’s main street, the one of Kuta Beach and its surf, and 2.6 km away is Double Six and Legian Beach.
A leisure street that stopped being ordinary
Jalan Legian
Summary of this stop
The visit starts on the pavement of Jalan Legian, facing the memorial. At first glance it is a nightlife street like many others, and that is precisely what makes it the starting point: here, shortly after eleven on the night of 12 October 2002, the bombs of Paddy’s Pub and the Sari Club went off, while a third device exploded near the United States consulate in Denpasar.
The attack was carried out by the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. The victims came from more than twenty countries, and Australia suffered the greatest loss of life. This first stop sets the scene before approaching the stone: how an ordinary night on an ordinary street stopped being so. The narration on site reconstructs that contrast between the everyday and what happened.
Two hundred and two names in black marble
Wall of names
Summary of this stop
The centre of the monument is a large black marble plaque with the names and nationalities of each person killed: 202 in all, grouped by country of origin. It is framed by meticulously carved stone, in the manner of a temple gateway, and flanked by flagpoles bearing the national flags of the victims. A stone inscription mourns the human tragedy of 12 October 2002.
The memorial was inaugurated on 12 October 2004, the second anniversary of the attack, on the same site as Paddy’s Pub. It stays open at all hours and is lit at night, so the list of names can be read by day or in the dark. Walking along the plaque country by country gives the real measure of what happened, and the audio guide accompanies that reading beside the marble.
An empty plot and Kuta’s response
Sari Club site
Summary of this stop
Across the road stood the Sari Club. For years its site remained a vacant lot used as a car park, while the Bali Peace Park Association, based in Perth, campaigned to build a memorial park there. That unmarked car park was for two decades the object of dispute, amid offers, counter-offers and an unauthorised commercial development.
In 2022 a deal was reached to secure the Sari Club land for the peace park for 4.4 million dollars, after more than a decade of failed negotiations. The final stop also looks toward another form of remembrance: the Kuta community responded to the attack with an annual festival, the Kuta Karnival, described as a celebration of life. Between the still-empty plot and that festival the thesis of the route closes, which the narration develops in front of the place where the club once stood.
