Thursday, April 16, 2015

Gereja St Joseph Gedangan Semarang

St. Joseph's Church (Indonesian: Gereja Santo Yosef), also known as Gedangan Church, is a Catholic church in Semarang, Indonesia, the first such church in the city. Administratively, it is part of the St. Joseph's Parish in the Archdiocese of Semarang.

Constructed between 1870 to 1875 to meet the needs of Semarang's growing Catholic population, the red-brick church building was designed by the Dutch architect W. I. van Bakel and built at a cost of 110,000 gulden. The church grew extensively over the following fifty years, at first dominated by ethnic Europeans and persons of mixed descent but later having a majority indigenous congregation. As the Catholic population grew, the size of the parish diminished as new ones were established.

The church complex consists of, among other things, the church building, a presbytery, and a convent. St. Joseph's itself is highly decorated, including nineteen stained glass windows (including three dedicated to church's patron saint, Joseph), carvings showing the fourteen Stations of the Cross, and an altar imported from Germany. The single tower is home to two bells produced by Petit & Fritsen.

No comments:

Post a Comment