Tourists visiting Bali to to photograph an iconic “mirror lake” have been disappointed to discover it doesn’t actually exist.
The edited image on the left shows the ‘lake’, while the image on the right depicts the reality. Images by Getty
Pura Lempuyan Temple in Karangasem is one of the oldest and most sacred sites in Indonesia. It’s magnificent, occupying an elevated space on Mount Lempuyang holy mountain that overlooks Mount Agung volcano, while misty forests loom in the background. There are many reasons to visit from the spiritual to the scenic – not to mention the iconic ‘Gates of Heaven’ stone structures that guard the temple – but lately the site has been garnering attention for a feature that, well, isn’t really there at all.
If you look up the hashtag #Lempuyang on Instagram you’ll find 32,000 photos and many of them show a similar scene: a person standing in the middle of the gates with their reflection illuminated from below by a lake with a glass-like surface. It’s quite a scene but it turns out that lake doesn’t exist and those who are eager to recreate the Instafamous snap are finding out the hard way.
A mirror is used to create the illusion of a lake. Image by Nina Marsiglio / EyeEm via Getty
A tweet from Fortune editor Polina Marinova, widely shared last week, exposed the myth. Marinova wrote: “my hopes and dreams were shattered when I found out the ‘water’ at the Gates of Heaven is actually just a piece of glass under an iPhone.”
Her tweet went viral with people joining in the discussion to share their own similar experiences. “And Instagrammers don’t tell you about the long queues and hours of waiting,” one person commented, while another said: “true story, visited the place. Looks nothing close to what people put on Instagram.”
A tourist takes a photo at Lempuyang temple without the illusion of a lake. Image by Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP/Getty
So yes, it turns out that the lake is an illusion created by local photographers who achieve the effect by holding mirrors underneath camera lenses as they take a shot. A camera trick. But bear in mind, people have been climbing a steep staircase of more than 1700 steps to find that out for themselves. Ouch!
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