The Protestant Church in Western Indonesia Immanuel Semarang (''Gereja Protestan Indonesia Barat Immanuel Semarang''), better known as Blenduk Church (''Gereja Blenduk'') is a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church in

Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

, Indonesia. Built in 1753, it is the oldest church in the province.

Architecture and layout

Blenduk Church, at 32 Letjen Suprapto Street in the old town of

, is located in a small courtyard between former office buildings. The Jiwasraya building is located to the south, across the street, while the Kerta Niaga offices are to its west. The octagonal church, built on a stone foundation and with single-layer brick walls, has its ground floor at street level. It is topped by a large, copper-skinned dome, from which it gets its common name; the Javanese word ''mblenduk'' means dome. The dome is supported by 32 steel beams, 8 large and 24 small. Two towers, square at the base and slowly rounding until topped with a small dome, are located on either side of the main entrance, while a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

consisting of horizontal lines runs around the building; Roman-style porticoes covered in saddle-shaped roofs are located on its eastern, southern and western faces. Blenduk also features etched and

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows, as well as wood-panel double doors at the south-facing entrance. The wooden pews inside Blenduk have

rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...

seats, while the pulpit is completely made of wood and located on an octagonal platform made of

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

. A nonfunctional

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

pipe organ from the 1700s is also located inside. The floor is covered in black, yellow, and white tiles. In the northern part of the interior is a spiral staircase, etched with name of its manufacturer, (Rolling Mill, The Hague), which leads to the second floor.

History

Blenduk was established in 1753; the initial building had a ''joglo''-style. Although meant for Protestants, Catholics also used it until the first Catholic church in the city, in Gedangan, was built. The church was later rebuilt in 1787. Another re-imagining, spearheaded by H.P.A. de Wilde and W. Westmas, began work in 1894. During this renovation, the dome and two towers were added. Another series of renovations began in the early 2000s. As of 2004, the church has 200 families in its congregation and holds regular Sunday services; it is also a tourist attraction. In 2003 the church celebrated its 250th year.

Awards

In February 2009, Blenduk received an award for Best Maintained Old Place of Worship from the Central Java branch of the Architects' Society of Indonesia.

Gallery

Interior of Blenduk Church, Semarang, 2014-06-19 2.jpg, Interior Pulpit of Blenduk Church, Semarang, 2014-06-23.jpg, Pulpit Stained glass window, Blenduk Church, Semarang, 2014-06-24 1.jpg, A stained glass window.

References

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External links