In 1927, the people of Batur began rebuilding Pura Ulun Danu, the temple which once lay at the foot of the volcano. It was an ambitious project. The majority of the 285 planned shrines are yet to be completed. At present, the temple is finely and simply designed. Two august gateways, severe in contrast to the elaborate split gates of South Bali, open onto spacious courtyards laid with black gravel.

Rows of meru towers silhouette against the sky in full view of the smoking volcano. The bale gedong, a storehouse of precious relics, contains a bell of solid gold. As the story goes, the bell was presented to the treasury of the temple by a king of Singaraja in atonement for his having insulted the deities.

The ritual in this temple is closely linked with the veneration of Lake Batur and supplication for the blessing of irrigation water. The mountain, lakes help regulate the flow of water to he fields find villages through the many natural springs lower down the slopes.