Gereja Sion (Indonesian for "Sion Church") is a historic church located in Pinangsia Administrative District, Taman Sari,

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. Dating from 1695, it is the oldest church still standing in Jakarta.

History

The church was formerly known as ''De Nieuwe Portugeesche Buitenkerk'' ("The New Portuguese Outer Church"), referring to its position on the outside of the city wall, as opposed to ''Portugeesche Binnenkerk'', "the Portuguese Inner Church"). The church was also known as ''Belkita'' during the period. The church was built outside the old city walls for the so-called "black Portuguese" - the Eurasians and natives captured from Portuguese trading posts in India and Malaya and brought to Jakarta (then Batavia) as slaves. Most of these people were Catholics, but were given their freedom on the condition that they joined the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

, and the converts were known as

Mardijker The Mardijker people refers to an ethnic community in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) made up of descendants of freed slaves. They could be found at all major trading posts in the East Indies. They were mostly Christian, of variou ...

or the liberated ones. The construction of the church was started in 1693. It was officially opened on Sunday, October 23, 1695, and was jointly financed by the Portuguese and the VOC Government. The first sermon was delivered by Reverend Theodorus Zas and was attended by Governor-General

Willem van Outhoorn Willem van Outhoorn (4 May 1635 – 27 November 1720) was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1691 to 1704. He was born and died in the Dutch East Indies. Biography Willem van Outhoorn (or ''Oudthoorn'') was born on 4 May 1635 at Lar ...

. Later, the church name changed into "Portuguese Church". During the

Japanese occupation of Indonesia The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. It was one of the most crucial and important periods in modern Indonesian history. In ...

in 1942, the name "Portuguese Church" was forbidden and the church was closed for two years. The Japanese army wished to transform the place into a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "''colu ...

for the fallen soldiers. During the governmental transition, the Dutch government transferred the ownership of the church to the Protestant Church in Western Indonesia (''Gereja Protestan di Indonesia bagian Barat'') or GPIB. During the 1957 GPIB Sinode Conference, the Portuguese Church changed its name into GPIB Congregation of Zion (''GPIB Jemaat Sion''), and since then, the church is known as Zion Church. The church was restored in 1920 and 1978. The building is protected through the Law SK Gubernur DKI Jakarta CB/11/1/12/1972 In 1984, the churchyard was reduced for road construction.

Building

Sion Church measures 24 by 32 meters and is situated on 6,725 square meters of land. An extension was built on the back facade, measuring 6 by 18 meters. It was built above a foundation of 10,000 logs. The construction is designed by E. Ewout Verhagen from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

. The wall is constructed from bricks glued by a mix of sand and heatproof sugar. Sion Church is characteristically Dutch with its plain facade, ward-like appearance and domed windows. The church contains copper chandeliers, a baroque-style ebony pulpit, and the original organ. The furnishings were made by craftsmen from Formosa (

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

). The pipe organ was donated by the daughter of Reverend John Maurits Moor. 2,381 people were buried in the graveyard during 1790 alone, however, few tombs remain. The ornate bronze tombstone of Governor-General Hendrick Zwaardecroon who died in 1728 was buried, as was his wish, among "ordinary" people.

References

{{Portal, Jakarta Churches in Jakarta Colonial architecture in Jakarta Churches completed in 1695 Cultural Properties of Indonesia in Jakarta Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia 1695 establishments in the Dutch Empire Former Roman Catholic church buildings

History

Building

See also

References