In the woods of Indonesia’s Magelang Regency sits one of the modern world’s more unusual houses of worship: Gereja Ayam, the Chicken Church, which is shaped like a giant fowl wearing a crown. And it’s currently falling to pieces.
Daniel Alamsjah was living in Jakarta in 1989 when he saw what he claims was a vision from God of a spot on a hill where he was to build a house of prayer. Alamsjah found the spot near where his wife’s family lived and went to work. Although he intended to erect a building shaped like a dove, the locals took to calling it the Chicken Church. He also told the Jakarta Globe that the building served as a sort of rehabilitation facility for people in need of therapy.
The prayer house has been closed for some 15 years now, and Alamsjah was, as of May 2014, looking to sell the building. Although the building is crumbling, it still attracts plenty of visitors, including some young couples looking to canoodle in the privacy of the chicken’s belly.
A Towering Prayer House in the Hills [Jakarta Globe via Colossal]