Abstract:
As a reaction to the phenomenon of the desacralization of Catholic church
architecture after the Second Vatican Council, many studies have examined the
relationship between the liturgical activities and the architectural form of the Catholic
church. However, the research that addressed the issue about the meaning of Catholic
Church's architectural form is still a rarity. This study aims to explicate the meaning
of architectural form in one of the oldest Catholic churches in Jakarta, Indonesia,
namely the Santa Theresia Church. The analytical steps were to describe all the
composition and property in each scope of the building, then interpret the meaning
that is expressed based on the theory of meanings in architecture. Based on this
theory, it can be seen whether the meaning displayed by the Santa Theresia church
architecture tends to be perceptual, cultural, or ideological. The analysis showed that
the dominance of the Catholic symbol supported by site composition, building mass,
the inner space and building elements act as the basis for the appearance of the divine
ideological meaning. In addition to enriching the realm of substance and methods of
architectural knowledge, this research is also useful for practitioners and
stakeholders involved in the design of the Catholic Church
