Pride of Place World Heritage churches in the Philippines By Augusto Villalon Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 04:14:00 09/08/2008
MANILA, Philippines - Four philippine churches from the Spanish colonial era were inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage List in 1993 as “The Baroque Churches of the Philippines.”
The churches are Santo Tomás de Villanueva in Miag-ao, Iloilo, San Agustín in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, Santa María de la Asunción in Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur, and San Agustín in Intramuros, Manila. Their inscription in the World Heritage List elevates them to the status of having outstanding universal value, unique in the world.
Why are they unique? The Argentine Spanish colonial expert Jorge Gazaneo of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (Icomos) states: “No (Philippine) church is a complete example of one art period, but a living document of how time and context have left traces on the early founding intentions of the original designer-builder. This is architecture built in response to local natural and climatic conditions, executed by Filipino and Chinese craftsmen who had absolutely no experience of Western architecture.”
Santo Tomás de Villanueva, Miag-ao, Iloilo
When the Augustinian mission station of Miag-ao in the island of Iloilo became a parish in 1731, friars built a simple church and convento (friars’ residence). After Muslim pirates burned the town and church twice, the friars decided to transfer the town and its church to a safer location on the edge of a hill overlooking the sea and the Miag-ao River.
The new church was built to also function as a fortress to protect townspeople from invasions. Built of local yellow-orange sandstone, the fortress-church was completed in 1797. Although the church withstood typhoons and earthquakes, it nevertheless burned twice: once during the revolution against Spain in 1898 and a second time during the Philippine-American War a few years later.
Miag-ao is among the best examples in the Philippines of a type of church style known as “fortress baroque.” The church stands on the highest elevation of the town, its towers on permanent lookout for Muslim invasions. The squatness of the church, the massive pair of bell towers and the angled buttresses strengthen its fortress image. Its façade is a masterpiece. Filipino stone carvers filled its entire surface with tassels, vines, tendrils, swags, and festoons in wild abandon. The façade sums up the Filipino transfiguration of western decorative elements. The central element in the façade is St. Christopher, clad in Filipino rolled-up trousers carrying the Christ Child on his back while holding on to a lush coconut tree for support. Beside him are guava and papaya trees. The iconography is western, the interpretation and setting are Philippine tropical. The façade swirls around statues and reliefs of saints, bursts out in scrolls framing a central niche where the patron saint is enshrined. Massive, unmatched bell towers taper upwards to end in uneven heights frame the entire whimsical, undulating façade composition.
While the Baroque style in its pure form was in vogue in Europe, Latin America and the Philippines evolved its own interpretation of the Baroque, contextualized in the local vernacular, a derivative style of the Baroque but totally folk in execution. The church is an example of that style. The Church of Santo Tomas de Villanueva is one of the most outstanding examples of the fusion of the western Baroque style embellished with naïf folk motifs found in the Philippines.
San Agustín, Paoay, Ilocos Norte
The construction of the present church was started in 1604 completed many years later in 1710. Situated in the earthquake belt, Philippine bell towers were constructed apart from the main church structure to prevent the towers from collapsing on the main church structure during an earthquake. The Paoay bell tower is a stunning example. Standing quite a distance from the church, the coral stone bell tower was finished in the second half of the 18th century and its pagoda-like design is testament to the Chinese craftsmen who constructed the structure.
This church is the most outstanding variant of “earthquake baroque,” where the primary consideration was to design the structure for earthquake protection. To protect the long side walls from earthquake damage, a phalanx of buttresses line the walls. It is the most massive buttressing in any Philippine church. Fourteen S-shaped buttresses rise almost to the roof line. Each one is topped by a triumphant pyramidal finial.
The church façade varies from traditional Baroque design precepts. Heavier coral stone blocks occupy the upper levels and finials. On the lower portion, smaller stones are used as building material. On the façade the decorative carving is limited only to the uppermost levels, with the lower two-thirds a massive blank.
The visual impact of the massive S-shaped buttresses and the exaggerated distance of the pagoda-like bell tower make this property the most outstanding example of a structure braced against earthquakes.
The exterior of the property is deteriorating badly. Damaging foliage growing on the stone of the church and bell tower is difficult to control. Stucco covering the coral stone walls is chipping off and exposing small portions of the structural stone to the damage natural elements. The façade is tilting forward, in danger of detaching from the rest of the structure. The interior of the church structure has been totally renovated.
Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur
The town of Sta. Maria in the coastal province of Ilocos Sur in northern Philippines is located on a narrow, flat plain of land between the sea and the central mountain range of Ilocos Sur. Not following the traditional Spanish urban town plan that situates the church in the central town plaza, the location of the Sta. Maria Church and convento (parish house) atop a hill fortified by a stone wall, citadel-like, without any adjacent structures. St.a Maria is the only example of such siting in the Philippines. The bell tower is completely detached from the church façade, a typical feature of Philippine-Hispanic church architecture. The tower, massive and squat, constructed of stacked octagonal shapes of decreasing diameter and crowned by a small dome, evokes a Chinese pagoda.
From any angle, the approach to the Sta. Maria ensemble is magnificent. A stairway of 85 stone steps rises from the town to the small courtyard at the top of the citadel separating the church and convento. On the opposite side of the courtyard, another equally grand stairway descends to a causeway built up over rice fields leading to the circular cemetery at the bottom of the hill.
Built of brick, the church follows the usual plan of Philippine churches: a monumental façade masking a straight roofline covering a long, rectangular building. The thick lateral walls, with no ornamentation but with delicately carved side entrances are bolstered regularly by huge quadrangular buttresses (contrafuertes), necessary structural reinforcements for earthquake protection. A pair of exaggerated cylindrical columns frames the plain façade. The church and cemetery repeat the curved pediment motif. The power and simplicity of its geometric forms, and the citadel formation of the complex make this one of the most outstanding examples of Philippine-Hispanic Baroque architecture.
The Church of Sta. Maria has withstood the test of Philippine climatic and natural conditions well. The interior of the church is relatively intact. However, on the exterior walls and bell tower, all of the original stucco covering was removed to expose the structural brick following the misguided fashion in the 1960s. The brick is slowly deteriorating. The round cemetery behind the church is no longer in use and is deteriorating slowly due to foliage growth on the walls and small chapel. The courtyard, citadel walls and stairs are in good condition.
To be continued.
E-mail the author at pride.place@gmail.com.
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