Masjid Gedhe Kauman Yogyakarta: Pendekatan Semiotika dan Sejarah Seni Rupa Islam di Indonesia

Abstract

The Kauman Great Mosque (Masjid Gedhe Kauman) in Yogyakarta is not only a place of worship for Muslims but also a historical artifact of Islamic visual art and architecture in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Its distinctive form, deeply rooted in Javanese culture, carries specific meanings that have rarely been examined systematically through a sign-based reading. This study focuses on the semiotics of the mosque's architectural form and style, aiming to uncover the layers of meaning embedded within its Javanese-Islamic visual identity. A qualitative method combining historical and semiotic approaches, particularly Peirce's icon-index-symbol trichotomy, was employed. Data were collected through direct observation of the mosque's physical elements, followed by descriptive analysis and comparison with historical-cultural records and prior comparative studies. The findings indicate that key architectural elements-the three-tiered roof, the spacious veranda, the triple entrance doors, the thirty-six interconnected columns, the layered gateways, and the ornamented clock-function as symbols and indices that communicate spirituality, communal strength, and the staged process toward sacredness, while remaining firmly rooted in pre-Islamic Javanese cosmology absorbed into an Islamic framework. This study contributes to the broader understanding of Islamic visual art history in the Indonesian archipelago and offers a semiotic reading framework applicable to other Javanese mosques.