Churches in Intramuros
San Agustin Church
(Spanish: Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepcion de Maria de San Agustin) The oldest stone church in the Philippines and the mother of all churches in the country located in General Luna St, Manila. It is a Roman catholic church under the auspices of The Order of St. Augustine, located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila.
In 1993, it was one of the four Philippine churches constructed during the Spanish colonial period to be designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, under the collective title Baroque Churches of the Philippines. It was named a National Historical Landmark by the Philippine government in 1976. In the history of San Agustin church, it was the first religious structure constructed by the Spaniards on the island of Luzon. It is made of bamboo and nipa completed in 1571, but it was destroyed by the fire during the attempted invasion of Manila by the forces of Limahong in December 1574. A second church structure is made of wood. It was destroyed in February 1583, in a fire that started when a candle set a blaze the drapes of the funeral bier during the interment of the Spanish Governor-General Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa. The Augustinians decided to rebuild the church using stone. Construction began in 1586, based on a design of Juan Macias. The structure was built using hewn adobe stones quarried from Meycauayan, Binangonan and San Mateo, Rizal. The work proceeded slowly due to the lack of funds and materials, as well as the relative scarcity of stone artisans. The monastery was operational by 1604, and the church was formally declared complete on January 19, 1607, and named St. Paul of Manila. Macias, who died before the completion of the church, was officially acknowledged by the Augustinians as the builder of the edifice. |
Manila Cathedral (Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica)
(Filipino:
Metropolitanong Katedral Basilika ng
Maynila; Spanish: Catedral
Basilica Metropolitana de Manila), informally known as Manila Cathedral, the seat of the
archbishop of Manila. It is a Roman Catholic
basilica
located at Plaza de Roma in the Intramuros
district of the City of Manila, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the
Immaculate Conception, the
Principal Patroness of the Philippines. The cathedral serves
as the image of the Archbishop of Manila.
The cathedral was originally a parish church owned and governed by the Archdiocese of Mexico in 1571, until it became a separate diocese on 6 February 1579 upon the issuance of the papal bull, Illius Fulti Praesido by Pope Gregory XIII. The cathedral was destroyed several times since the original structure was built in 1581 while the eighth and current instance of the cathedral was finally completed in 1958. The first structure is made from nipa, wood, and bamboo. It was constructed in 1581 by Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop of Manila. The new structure was consecrated on December 21, 1581, formally becoming a cathedral. It was destroyed by fire in 1583, which started during the funeral Mass for Governor-General Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa in San Agustin Church that razed much of the city. The second structure is made from stone built in 1592. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1600. Construction of the third cathedral began in 1614. The new structure, consisting of three naves and seven chapels, it was blessed in 1614. It was toppled by another earthquake which shook Manila in 1645. The fourth cathedral was constructed from 1654 to 1671. In 1750, a media naranja ("half orange") dome was added to the crossing by the Florentine friar Juan de Uguccioni, who also introduced a transept to the structure. It was severely damaged in 1863 by a very strong earthquake that also damaged the palace of the Governor General of the Philippines. In 1880, another earthquake toppled its bell tower, rendering the cathedral tower less until 1958. The seventh cathedral was constructed from 1870 to 1879. It was solemnly blessed in December 1879. The cross a top of the central dome is a reference point of astronomical longitudes of the archipelago. |