T.A.L.K.B.O.U.T

Archive for December, 2007

Hello there, let’s talk about Gereja Blenduk that located at Semarang (Indonesia). Gereja Blenduk has an unusual and interesting structure which is different from other churches in Indonesia. The original name of this church is Immanuel, located at the old town center. The location of this building is in front of Suari street that used to be Kerk street (Gereja Street). This church is the oldest church in Central Java built by the Dutch in 1753.

Its dome is big abd covered by bronze. Inside is the original full sized organ Barok. The architecture is based on the Greek cross. Then it was renovated by W. Westmaas and H. P. A. de Wilde, who added two minarets in front of the building. The name Blenduk was given by the local people and had a meaning of “dome”. Originally this church was renovated several times.

At the beginning this church was built in 1753, having the shape like a raised Javanese house. This can ben seen on Semarang map in 1756 that showed mass configuration that is now different. In 1787 the Javanese style house was totally renovated. Seven years later it was renovated in 1894 that is with two minarets and a dome roof. The explanation about Wilde and Wetmas is written behind the pulpit.

Lawang Sewu, a huge building located at Tugu Muda Semarang (Indonesia) boundary is a Javanese term meaning a thousand doors. While hearing Lawang Sewu, what is it your mind? It is surely not far from the thought of a building with a thousand doors.

Really? I myself have not counted the doors yet. It is because there are some areas that are prohibited to be entered by the public. This is to protect the visitors on the ground that Lawang Sewu is a place that is suspected to be haunted.

Therefore, those who do not know anything about mystics are prohibited to enter these certain areas. Semarang people already familiar with Lawang Sewu, an old inheritance building built by two Dutch architects, Prof Jacob F.Klinkhamer and B.J Queendag, in 1903.

It has been a very long time since Lawang Sewu has been occupied and therefore has been neglected. So, in addition to its many doors, Lawang Sewu is also familiar with the predicate of a place that can be used by anyone who wants to test his/her gall, especially with ghosts.

Believe it or not, it depends on how we see it. As a reference, this has indeed been proved by some people; one of them is by national private Television that succeeded in taking picture of ghost appearance. Lawang Sewu is actually a nice and unique place; the building is very sturdy although it is more than one century in age. The local government of Semarang recently held some exhibitions at Lawang Sewu, e.g. furniture, handicraft, literature, food and clothes festival.