7 Oldest And Historic Churches In Indonesia, Some Built On Dutch Graves

Sikka Old Church (Doc: Shutterstock)

JAKARTA - The majority of Indonesians do embrace Islam, but Indonesia also has several church buildings whose building age is fairly old and has historical value in it.

No wonder in the end, the church became a witness to the history of the development of Catholic and Christian teachings in Indonesia from the Portuguese to the Dutch era.

Here are some historical and oldest churches in Indonesia!

The Tugu Church is located in the North Jakarta area, where this church is the oldest in Indonesia according to historical records.

However, the building that can now be seen is not a real building because the Tugu Church was destroyed in 1740 due to the Geger Pepinan incident.

As a result, in 1744, a host named Yustinus Vinck helped to rebuild the church. Development began in 1747 and was inaugurated in 1748.

Apart from the Tugu Church, the Sion Church is also included in the oldest and historic church in Indonesia. This church is also known as the Portuguese Church.

The Sion Church was built in 1695 in the Pangeran Jayakarta area, West Jakarta. The church, which was built by the VOC, is intended for the places of worship of their Portuguese prisoners.

Uniquely, this church was built by an architect from Rotterdam, the Netherlands named E Ewout Verhagen using 10 thousand logs of mothers for foundation. This church can even accommodate up to 1,000 people.

Next is the Sentrum Church located in Minahasa, North Sulawesi. This church is also known as the Evangelical Church.

The Sentrum Church is a Dutch colonial building that was founded in 1677 and became Manado's oldest church.

The Old Banda Church has a sad and unique story in its history. This church was built on the graves of 30 Dutch soldiers in 1873 and was inaugurated in 1875.

Not without reason, it has become an old habit of the Dutch to bury important people in the church. It is known that the soldier was the person who died when the Dutch were about to conquer the Banda Islands.

The Fidelis Sejiram Church is one of the buildings that witnessed the history of the development of Catholic teachings in the West Kalimantan area.

The construction of this church was initiated by Pasto Looymans in 1892 where there is the hallmark of a chicken statue on top of his church.

Built in 1897 to make the Old Sikka Church, East Nusa Tenggara the oldest church in Sikka Regency. This church was built on the initiative of the Dutch priest Yohanes Engbers SJ in 1890.

Uniquely, in this church there was a painting of ikat weaving motifs built and reinforced with a typical NTT interior where the painting was made in 1935.

Blenduk Church (Doc: Shutterstock)

The Blenduk Church is one of the oldest churches in Semarang. Where this church was built by the Portuguese in 1753.

Unfortunately, in the era of Dutch rule, this building had to be completely overhauled, resulting in this church becoming an iconic church with a dome-like roof with two towers.

This made the Javanese people around the church call it the Blannduk church until it was named the Blenduk Church.