Bogor Cathedral, officially called the Katedral Perawan Maria yang Terberkati (Indonesian: ''Gereja Santa Perawan Maria''), is a historic and oldest church building in the Bogor Diocese in

Bogor Bogor City (), or Bogor (, ), is a landlocked city in the West Java, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. A church in ''Buitenzorg'' (the Dutch name for the area) in 1894 served both Protestants and Catholics. The cathedral was built in 1905. During World War II, the cathedral was damaged in 1945.

History

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Rooms-katholieke kerk Buitenzorg TMnr 60016616

The early history of the founding of the Bogor Cathedral Church is related to the role of two pioneering figures of the people of the city of Bogor, namely Mgr. Archbishop of Batavia and his younger brother R.D. M.Y.D. Claessens. In 1881, Mgr. Claessens bought a house with a fairly large yard (now including the Church complex, Rectory,

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

, school, and Budi Mulia Brotherhood). Initially, the place was used as a resting place and for holding Holy Mass for guests from Jakarta, after being built, this rest house was then also used as a place for holding Mass for the people, both Protestant and Catholic Christians, from Batavia who were visiting

, in other words, the house of worship built by AC Claessens was not only exclusive for Catholics, even Chinese traders who were traveling and native residents who were mostly Muslim often used this house as a resting place. In 1886 MYD. Claessen began his pastoral work to establish an orphanage for children. At that time the orphanage building could only accommodate 6 children. The pastoral effort was then developed into the Vincentius Foundation in 1887, so that in 1888 it received recognition from the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

Government. In 1889 the Dutch East Indies Government officially recognized and declared that Bogor became a permanent mission station Batavia. In 1896 (a year after Bishop AC Claessen died), MYD Claessens began building a magnificent church building on land where a rest house and orphanage had been built. That church is what is now known as the Bogor Cathedral Church. In 1907 Father MYD. Claessens returned to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

after 30 years of work in Bogor, West Java, 27 years later, in 1934, he died at the age of 82. Since the departure of Father Claessens, the permanent mission station in Bogor was handled by Father , In 1924, Father Antonius Van Velsen was appointed as Archbishop of Batavia, so that Bogor, which at that time had become a Parish, was handed over to Father OFM Conventual. In November 1957, the Bogor Parish was separated from the Apostolic Vicariate of Batavia and merged with the

Apostolic Prefecture An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

Sukabumi Sukabumi () is a landlocked city surrounded by the Sukabumi Regency, regency of the same name (within which it is an enclave and exclave, enclave) in the southern foothills of Mount Gede, in West Java, Indonesia, about south of the national ca ...

. In 1961, the Apostolic Prefecture of Sukabumi was upgraded to a Diocese with the name Roman Catholic Diocese of Bogor. The Bogor Parish Church then became the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Bogor. Thus, the name of the Bogor Parish changed to the Bogor Cathedral Parish.

Architecture

The authenticity is maintained even though it is hundreds of years old, the authenticity of the architectural design of the Bogor Cathedral Church is maintained. This church is located in a complex consisting of several buildings, such as the seminary and brotherhood school buildings. This building has the characteristic

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style architecture that was famous in the 19th century in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, which is still clearly visible in the church and brotherhood or seminary buildings. The Bogor Cathedral Church itself is a fairly tall building supported by thick walls typical of past buildings that make it look very sturdy and sturdy. There is also a tower which is the highest part of the church. The various arches and pillars also make the atmosphere around it like being in Europe in the past, especially a statue of a woman carrying a small child right above the door. It is known that the statue symbolizes the Virgin Mary which makes this church also known as the Church of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. At the top of this church there is actually a statue of a chicken, which is the same as the in

. The chicken statue at the top of this church building is a characteristic of Europe at that time.

References

{{coord, -6.5970, 106.7932, display=title Bogor Roman Catholic cathedrals in Indonesia Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia Churches in Java Roman Catholic churches completed in 1905 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Indonesia