MEMAHAMI ARSITEKTUR LOKAL DARI PROSES INKULTURASI PADA ARSITEKTUR GEREJA KATOLIK DI INDONESIA

Architecture is a product of culture through a long-time process in relation to the context of locality. Interaction of one culture with the other influenced the local architectural form. Gothic architecture as part of the world architecture vocabularies; known as the symbol of sacred architecture, has become an important reference in Roman Catholic Church. However, in its development in Indonesia, church architecture come in a different form, away from the Gothic architecture and be more closely to the local architecture. Through this enculturation process, the Church learned from the local culture and enriched itself with the local values. It should not only follow the western culture, since without enculturation and contextualization, it comes to be an alienated architecture, far away from being rooted in its own society and environment. This study shows that the meaning of Catholic church architecture is as an artifact to accommodate the ritual activities of the Catholics according to the Christian liturgy, but it also plays the role expressing the local potency through either the whole building or its symbolical elements; so as form and meaning of Catholic Church architecture in Indonesia becomes the identity of Indonesian Catholic Church Architecture