Source: http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=201&sid=994242

BASEL, SWITZERLAND, FEBRUARY 8, 2002: Basel's Museum of culture is staging an exhibition of the most important permanent collection of Balinese cultural artifacts outside Bali. For most tourists who go there there every year, Bali is known as "the last paradise" because of its beaches and tropical scenery. But to the inhabitants of the small Indonesian province it's the "Island of the Gods," and that's the title of the Basel exhibition.

The links between Basel and Bali go back to 1919, when Basel ethnologist Paul Wirz began conducting research and documentation of Balinese culture and it was through him that the collection took shape. Artists, musicians and other enthnologists from Basel followed up his work, and since 1972 their findings have been meticulously documented by the curator of the current exhibition, Urs Ramseyer.

Fundamentally Bali is a culture moved by the motor of religion," says Ramseyer. "Religion is still very important in Balinese thinking and is even part of everyday life, and as long as the ceremonies connected to people and nature are needed in Bali, we will continue to have the opportunity to see a very living culture."