Jakarta’s Neo-Gothic Roman Cathedral

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The Jakarta’s Cathedral stands right across Jakarta’s largest mosque, the Istiqlal Mosque. Catholic Cathedral stands to the north of Lapangan Banteng, in which during the Dutch colonial period was called Waterlooplein, or Waterloo Square at Central Jakarta.

Their proximity is not a coincidence. Indonesia’s first president, Soekarno, picked the website for the mosque on intention, to signify the nation’s doctrine of unity in diversity where all religions may co-exist in harmony and peace. Today, both institutions continue to cooperate together, primarily to accommodate the parking of cars during religious festivals. The parking lot of this mosque is used by the Church during Easter and Christmas midnight mass, and vice versa, through Eid prayers, parking is extended into the Cathedral’s parking lot.

This neo-gothic Church was constructed in 1901. Having been rebuilt in precisely the exact same spot where formerly stood the old palace, which was built in 1829 but collapsed in 1890. Although from its look the Church seems to be made from rock, as are neo-gothic churches in Europe, in reality, the palace consists of solid red brick that’s coated with plaster and implemented together with patterns to mimic natural rock structure. The thick walls are all made to Encourage the teak beams to form the roof. The three spires are created from the iron framework. These materials were used rather than a stone since they are somewhat lighter than rock masonry.

Over the Church are three wrought Iron spires, the two most significant are 60 meters tall, although the central spire is 45 meters. Entering the Church, one sees that The Cathedral is designed to make a cross. Its central aisle is 60 meters long and also in the front of the altars, the corridor extends 10 meters plus 5 meters to each side.There are three altars inside. The left Is the Altar of Saint Mary which was finished in 1915, and on the right is that the Altar of Saint Joseph, completed in 1922. The most crucial central altar and the tabernacle and the gold cross are said to have been made from the Netherlands from the 19th century and installed here in 1956.

Round the walls of the Church are Paintings of the Stations of the Cross, where before every Easter, congregations stop to meditate the sufferings of Jesus Christ into his crucifixion until his resurrection from the dead. On the south side is the statue of Pieta, showing Mother Mary carrying Jesus Christ on her lap after his crucifixion. On the center right is a raised Decorated pulpit with a shell-shaped structure overhead for acoustics.

The building itself has two Flooring. The top floor used to be for its choir, but while the building has aged and there are concerns that the flooring won’t hold many people, the top floor has been converted into a museum, which contains relics for rituals during the days of the Dutch East Indies, as also the background of the spread of Catholicism in Indonesia. The Cathedral is still actively used for this day. During Parking lot to allow the hundreds to beg, by the following mass through TV monitors.