San Agustin Church, Manila, The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old, historic 400 + year old Church

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photographed and written byphotographed and written by:: Fergus DucharmeFergus Ducharme,, assisted by:assisted by: JoemarieJoemarie AcallarAcallar andand NiloNilo JimenoJimeno..
proudly present:proudly present:
We visit the 400 + year oldWe visit the 400 + year old
beautiful, historic & oldbeautiful, historic & old
San Agustin Church, Intramuros, ManilaSan Agustin Church, Intramuros, Manila
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The driving distance from our
jumping off point at the SM City
parking lot in Iloilo to Manila’s San
Agustin Church is approximately 600
kilometres. Which translates into
about 3½ hours by air (including
ground transfers).

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The Church which was built between 1586 and
1607 (when construction was completed) is the
oldest stone church in the Philippines.
In 1993 the Church was named as a:

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San Agustin Church, Manila after the1880 earthquake

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San Agustin Church is a Roman Catholic church under the administration of The Order of
Saint Augustine, located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila.
The current church is actually the third Augustinian church erected on the site. The first San
Agustin Church was the first religious structure constructed by the Spaniards on the island
of Luzon. It was made of bamboo and nipa and was completed in 1571. The very first
chapel built in Manila was accepted by the Friars Martin de Rada and Juan de Alva on May
31st, 1572. These are two of the Friars we have followed on their travels and works of
evangelization from Cebu to Capiz to The Ermita in Dumangas and finally to Oton. They had
accompanied Miguel Lopez de Legaspi the founder of the City of Manila from the south.
Legaspi is buried in easternmost chapel of the transept of today’s Church.
This original church was subsequently destroyed by fire in December 1574 during the
invasion of Manila by the forces of Limahong.
A second church built of wood was constructed on the site. This one was destroyed in a
February 1583 fire that started when a candle set ablaze the drapes of the funeral bier
during the interment of the Spanish Governor General Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa.

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Andrés de Urdaneta as a young man. He was an adventurer and explorer
who had been the second man to circumnavigate the world following the
Magellan Expedition of 1522. He had visited the Philippines as a member of
the Loaisa Expedition in 1526.
He actually completed the circumnavigation in 1536 after 10 years a prisoner
of the Portuguese in the Spice Islands.
Urdaneta in later life as an Augustinian Friar. We will be
posting the full story of Urdaneta in a subsequent port
coming in the near future (Spring of 2014).

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Miguel Lopez de Legaspi the navigator
and explorer, with whom Urdaneta
served, is buried in San Agustin
Church in Intramuros, Manila.
His tomb is shown below.

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In addition, other Spanish conquistadors including Juan de Salcedo and Martin de Goiti
are also buried in the Church.
De Goiti, along with other soldiers were granted with haciendas (estates) for the lands
they had conquered, by Phili[ II of Spain.
In 1574, De Goiti fought in the war during the invasion of about 3,000 Chinese
sea pirates who had sailed from the South China sea. Their leader, Limahong, besieged
on the Spanish settlements in Manila. De Goiti was killed by those pirates, on November
30th, 1574. They massacred most of the Spaniards in the villages. Most of the Spanish
reinforcements came from Vigan and Cebu.
Goiti's second in command, Juan de Salcedo left Ilocos Sur, after hearing the news and
traveled to Manila where he discovered their settlements had been ceded to the pirates.
Salcedo's forces attacked and drove the pirates out of Manila. Limahong and his fleets
retreated to Pangasinan where they re-organize their forces.
In 1575, Salcedo's army marched north to Pangasinan, in pursuit of the pirates, and
besieged them for three months. There the Spaniards captured Limahong and his fleets
in the river of Pangasinan and executed them..

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The 4th Spanish Governor General Gonzalo
Ronquillo de Peñalosa.
“Don Gonzalo Ronquillo founded a Spanish town in
the island of Panay, in Oton, which he named
Arevalo. During his term, the trade with the
Chinese increased, and he built a market-place
and Parian for them within the city, where the
Chinese could bring and sell their merchandise"
From: Research Center for Iloilo
As noted earlier, a fire in February of 1583 caused
by a burning candle during his wake in Manila,
caused a massive fire that destroyed the Church of
San Agustin and much of the city itself.

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The Augustinians decided to rebuild the church using stone and to construct an
adjacent monastery.
Construction began in 1586, based on a design by Juan Macías. 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
and consecrated on January 19, 1607, it was originally named St. Paul of Manila.
The Church we see today is in fact the one that was consecrated in 1607. It has withstood all
manner of calamities from typhoons, earthquakes, revolution, invasion, occupation by foreign
forces and bombardments…
San Agustin Church was looted by British forces which occupied Manila in 1762 during
the Seven Year War. It was renovated in 1854 under the supervision of architect Luciano
Oliver
Nine years later, on June 3, 1863, the strongest earthquake of the time, hit Manila leaving
widespread destruction to the city with San Agustin Church, the only public building left
undamaged in the city.

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A series of strong earthquakes struck Manila again on 18–20 July 1880. This time, the
tremors left a huge crack on the left bell tower of the church. The crack was eventually
repaired, but the left tower was permanently removed as it appears today. The church
withstood the major earthquakes that struck Manila in the years 1645, 1699, 1754, 1796,
1825 and 1852.
On August 18, 1898, the church was the site where Spanish Governor-General Fermin
Jaudenes prepared the terms for the surrender of Manila to the United States of America
following the Spanish American War.
During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II, San Agustin Church and it
whole complex was used by the Japanese as a concentration camp. In the final days of the
Battle of Manila hundreds of Intramuros residents and clergy were held hostage in the
church; many of them would be killed during the three-week long battle. The church itself
survived the razing of Intramuros by American forces in May 1945 with only its roof damaged,
although buildings in the complex were seriously damaged or destroyed. The Church was the
only one of the seven churches within the walled city to remain standing.

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The adjacent monastery known as Pavillion II (more or less a residence for the Friars), was
actually renovated/added to by adding a third floor between 1861 and 1864 at a cost of 72,000
pesos was partially destroyed in a 1932 fire, was rebuilt only to be mostly destroyed in 1945.
At the beginning of construction it was discovered that the foundation of the ground floor of
this area causing the construction materials to be changed from the original stone work to the
use of bricks which were sourced in Bulacan. Stone was solely used for the arches, doorways
and windows.
As mentioned earlier, this entire building was destroyed during the liberation of Manila during a
bombardment by the Americans attempting to dislodge the Japanese who had used the
complex as a “concentration camp”. It is the massive stone and brick wall seen in Friar Manuel
Blanco’s Garden which is discussed a little later in this presentation. A photo of that section of
the Garden follows below.

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What follows is a selection of photos taken at the Church…It should be noted that as in most
churches in the Manila area, ‘tourists’ are not often allowed to photograph the churches’
interiors or associated buildings. Our photographer on this specific expedition, Architect
Rommel Legaspi, was able to speak to the Augustinian Friar in charge on the day of his visit,
who happened to be an Ilonggo, and who allowed Rommel very, very limited access and for
that we are quite grateful!

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The photos that follow in this section of the presentation are primarily of the San Augustin
Museum which forms part of the extensive San Augustin Church complex.

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Photos of some of the statues and invaluable precious artwork which adorn the hallways of the
Museum of San Agustin and originate in Spain, Mexico and the Philippines…

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The photos in this section of the presentation are of the Church itself, although there are
not many, we hope that we have sufficient to show the magnificence of this Church,
which was originally founded in 1571. The present Church which in fact is the third
church built on the site was consecrated on January 19th, 1607. The Church Complex is
over 400 years old…it is an impressive and breathtaking example of the Baroque style of
architecture which was prevalent in the Philippines of Spanish Colonial Times.

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Common Characteristics of Baroque Architecture
Features of Baroque architecture include:
Twisted columns, sometimes simply decorative instead of supportive
More curves instead of straight lines
Highly decorative details and ornaments
Appearance of movement
Towers or domes
An abundance of windows
Broad naves
Ceiling frescos
Optical illusions (Trompe l’oeil)
Blending of paintings and architecture
Most of these characteristics are amply demonstrated in San Agustin Church.

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San Agustín's ornate and Renaissance-like trompe l'oeil ceilings.
The ceilings were painted by Italians Dibella and Alberoni in 1875.
© Flickr & Juan Paulo

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In the courtyard between the Church and the Museum is what is called Friar Blanco’s Garden.
Friar Blanco was a renowned Botanist who studied plants and in particular searched for and
cultivated medicinal plants. He wrote the book describing his work: “Flora de Filipinas”, which
was published in 1883

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The stone and brick wall which stands out in the background of the photo on the left is what
remains of the old monastery which was originally built in the early 1600s and was destroyed
by in the American bombing in 1945 that virtually destroyed the entire city of Manila.

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The bell from the bell tower of the Church that was
destroyed in the American bombing of Manila in
1945. The rest of the Church was virtually
untouched. That’s a tank driving through the ruins
of the bell tower.

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We want to thank the following for the contributions to this article:
Photos provided by:
Architect Rommel Legaspi,
Materials and some photos provided by: www.wikipedia.org
Primary reference: Angels in Stone, Pedro G. Gallende, OSA

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If you have suggestions or recommendations on how we can improve
this service for you please send your ideas along to:
info@historicphilippines.com

San Agustin Church, Manila, The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old, historic 400 + year old Church

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San Agustin Church, Manila, The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old, historic 400 + year old Church