A Semiotic Dataset on the Socio-Cultural Influence of the San Sebastian Church architecture, Lumban, Laguna, Philippines

This dataset from an empirical study explores the semiotics of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical architecture in the Philippines, specifically San Sebastian Church in Lumban, Laguna (the first church outside Manila). It investigates contemporary Filipinos' interpretive and affective responses to the church's symbolic and architectural elements (façade, icons, statuary, structural design) through a structured survey of 334 Laguna residents. Employing a mixed-methods approach (Likert scales and open-ended narratives), the survey, grounded in religious iconography, semiotic theory, and cultural analysis, captured cognitive and affective dimensions of sacred space encounters. Purposive sampling ensured demographic diversity. The resulting anonymized data includes sentiment, interpretive data, textual responses on attributed meanings, and expert annotations on historical context and symbolic interpretations. This dataset offers interdisciplinary research potential on visual culture, religion, and identity in post-colonial societies, serving as a comparative resource for symbolic communication in sacred spaces, heritage preservation, and understanding material culture's impact on religious and communal experiences.