Ubud District 

(Indonesian: Kecamatan Ubud) is a district (kecamatan) in Gianyar

Regency, Bali, Indonesia. Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District,
located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency.
Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. How Ubud
became the holistic heart of Asia". SBS. 2016-02-02. Retrieved December Its area is
42.38 km2 and the population was 69,323 people as of 2010 census;[1] the latest official estimate
(as at mid 2019) is 74,320.[2] but at any given time there are large numbers of temporary
residents and tourists.
Neighboring districts are: Tegallalang and Payangan districts to the north, Tampaksiring district
to the north-east, Sukawati district to the south, all four within Gianyar Regency, and
Abiansemal district of Badung Regency to the West.
Villages in Ubud include the villages (urban Kelurahan and rural Desa) of Ubud,
Kedewatan, Mas, Peliatan, and Sayan.
Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2020
hIstory of ubud
Eighth-century legend tells of a Javanese priest, Rsi Markendya, who meditated at the
confluence of two rivers (an auspicious site for Hindus) at the Ubud locality of Campuhan. Here
he founded the Gunung Lebah Temple on the valley floor, the site of which remains a pilgrim
destination.[5] Picard (1995) Picard, Kunang Helmi (1995) Artifacts and Early Foreign
Influences. From Oey, Eric (Editor) (1995). Bali. Singapore: Periplus Editions. pp. 130–
133.  ISBN  962-593-028-0.

The town was originally important as a source of medicinal herbs and plants; Ubud gets its name
from the Balinese word ubad (medicine).[5]
In the late nineteenth century, Ubud became the seat of feudal lords who owed their allegiance to
the king of Gianyar, at one time the most powerful of Bali's southern states. The lords were
members of the Balinese Kshatriya caste of Suk, and were significant supporters of the village's
increasingly renowned arts scene.[5] Picard (1995)
Tourism on the island developed after the arrival of Walter Spies, an ethnic German born in
Russia who taught painting and music, and dabbled in dance. Spies and foreign painters Willem
Hofker and Rudolf Bonnet entertained celebrities including Charlie Chaplin, Noël
Coward, Barbara Hutton, H.G. Wells and Vicki Baum. They brought in some of the greatest
artists from all over Bali to teach and train the Balinese in arts, helping Ubud become the cultural
centre of Bali.
Another foreign artist Han Snel was a dutch soldier who discovered Ubud after his military
service building a studio with his new wife Siti, his painting captured the imagination of both
foreigners and Balinese alike with his invigorating synthesis of both cultures.[6] Hoffman, Bali
the ultimate guide(2012)
Antonio Blanco a Spanish/American artist lived in Ubud from 1952 till his death in 1999.[7]
Hogan, A Guide to Bali (1974)A new burst of creative energy came in the 1960s after the arrival
of Dutch painter Arie Smit (b. 1916) and the development of the Young Artists Movement.
The Bali tourist boom since the late 1960s has seen much development in the town; however, it
remains a centre of artistic pursuit.[5]
In 2002, terrorist bombings caused a decline in tourism throughout Bali including Ubud. In
response to this a writer's festival was created, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival to help revive
tourism, the island's main economic lifeline.