The lead house Casa Manila is based on a residence originally located in Binondo. It is a two story house with a mezzanine or entresuelo (literally between the floors), which serves as an office and a small residence, generally occupied by a relative of the houseowners. Casa Manila is a lifestyle museum displaying colonial furniture, collected from different house, one of which was the Hidalgo house in Quiapo, which was demolished during road expansion and the construction of the Nagtahan flyover.

Beside Casa Manila are two other houses, one based on a 1750s residence formerly on San Francisco Street and an early 20th century house, showing art noveau and art deco influences. The upper floors of these houses are used as a restaurant. The ground floor of the whole complex houses the Casa Manila office and botique shops, specializing in books, antiques and art. The atrium of Casa Manila can be used for functions, like wedding receptions.

Casa Blanca, so named because it is whitewashed, Casa Urdaneta and El Hogar are used for offices.

Barrio San Luis was the place where a return to colonial inspired architecture was first seen. Many new constructions in Intramuros have drawn from colonial architecture but not always in an informed, inspired and effective way. Some building that have been given a “colonial look” are The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Balay Chinoy museum, The Knights of Columbus Headquarters and the reconstructed facade of the Colegio de Santa Rosa.

Falsabraga de Santa Barbara: Named after St. Barbara, patroness of the artillery corps, probably built ca. 1739.

Plataforma de Santa Barbara: Level area to mount artillery, probably part of the oldest section of Fort Santiago.

Falsabraga Media Naranja: Called media naranja because its plan is a semi-circle, or picturesquely, half an orange.

Medio Bastión de San Francisco: Called medio bastion because it lacks a full flank.

Baluartillo (Bastión) de San Francisco: Named after St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order.

Reducto (Fortín) de San Francisco: Named after St. Francis of Assisi, this is an independent outer fortification and connected to the main walls by a walkway.

Bastión Hererias Maestranza: Named after two adjacent structures: the royal foundry (Hererias) and the royal armory (Maestranza) located beside Plaza Militar.

Bastión de San Lorenzo: Named after St. Lawrence the Martyr.
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The City

Baluartillo de San Juan: Named after St. John the Baptist on whose feast, 24 June 1571, the City of Manila was founded.

Bastión de San José: Named after St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.

Reducto (Fortín) de San Pedro: Named after St. Peter the Apostle, this is an independent outer fortification and connected to the main walls by a walkway.

Bastión de San Diego: Named after St. James the Great (aka San Iago, Santiago). Probably built around an older fortification erected by Sedeño in the late 16th century, named Nuestra Señora de Guia (Our Lady of Guidance) after a hermitage and church in Ermita, which it faced.. Presently, the bastion is an archaelogical site where three rings of stone connected by crossways were unearthed. Most opine that one of these rings was Sedeño’s fort. It is known that the fort was integrated into the Bastion between 1591-94 when Gov. Perez de Dasmariñas built the stone perimeter of the City of Manila.

Bastión Plano de Santa Isabél: Named after St. Elizabeth, the mother of the Virgin Mary.

Baluartillo de San Eugenio : Baluartillo, meaning a small bastion, named after San Eugene. This also an archaelogical site.

Revellin de la Puerta Real de Bagumbayan: An outer fortification built to protect the Royal gate built after the British occupation of Manila 1762-64. The ravellin housed an aquarium in the 20th century. The ravelin faced the native settlement of Bagumbayan (new village), whose site is now occupied by Luneta Park.

Bastión de San Andrés: Named after St. Andrew, brother of St. Peter the Apostle, proclaimed patron of Manila after the attack by the Chinese Limahong in 1574.

Revellin de Recoletos: An outer defense to protect the gate near the church of the Recollects.

Bastión de San Francisco de Dilao: Named Dilao because it faced the district of Dilao, a Japanese enclave, east of the walls. Dilao’s original site was probably where San Marcelno Street is. The district was transferred to Paco, and residences demolished after the British had left Manila in 1764. The bastion is named after St. Francis of Assisi because it was near the twin churches of the Franciscans: Our Lady of the Angels and the VOT (Venerable Orden Tercera) church.

Revellin de Parian: Protected the gate with the same name and led to the Parian, the Chinese district outside the walls. This ravelin replaced an older type of fortification called tenaza (tenaille). The tenaza was uncovered during the restoration of the ravelin but was buried again beneath stone work.

Bastión de San Gabriel: Named after the Archangel Gabriel.

Bastión de Santo Domingo: Named because of its close proximity to the Dominican compound. The bastion and the walls flanking it were demolished in the 20th century to allow easy access to the docks along the Pasig River.
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Gates

Puerta Real: The Royal gate, ceremonial gate used by the governor general and the archbishop of Manila; transferred to its present site in 1780.

Parian: Gate facing Manila’s Chinese quarters, site of much commerce; later served as Puerta Real after 1780.

Isabel II: Last gate to be built (1861) in honor of Queen Isabel II.

(Magallanes): Small gate along the Pasig replaced by Puerta Isabel II.

Sto. Domingo: Built near the Dominican compound, the gate and the bastion named Santo Domingo were demolished in 1904 to open the city to commerce along the Pasig.

Almacenes: Opened to the Pasig, located between the Intendencia and Fort Santiago, demolished in 1904.

Postigo: Postern gate, used as an emergency exit. The gate opened to Manila Bay.

Sta. Lucia: This gate which opened to Manila Bay was demolished during World War II to allow for the easy access of troops. It was rebuilt following original plans. The bridge leading to the gate and part of the moat has been restored.

Curtain wall: Aka cortina, referred to straight walls connecting bastions.

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Barracks and Military Structures

Military buildings

Hospital Militar: Located near the Monasterio de Sta. Clara

Cuarteles de Santa Lucia: Located near the Santa Lucia gate, this was a military barracks built in the 19th century. The structure was ruined by war but the walls were cleaned and consolidated by the military. It now serves as a park.

Capilla Militar: Dedicated to the Incarnation of Jesus, the military chapel faced Plaza Militar, immediately outside Fort Santiago.

Plaza Militar: An open area in front of Fort Santiago used for military parades

Before 1570: A settlement of Tagalog under Rajah Sulayman occupies a tongue of land at the mouth of the Pasig River. Sulayman was Muslim related to the rajahs of Brunei.

Spanish colonization 1571-1898

Establishment of Spanish Rule (1565-1600)
1565: Miguel Lopez de Legazpi establishes a Spanish colony in Cebu. A ship under Martin de Goiti returns to Spain with a cargo of cinnamon; the possibility of opening between the Philippines and Spain is explored.

1569: In search of better food supply, Legazpi transfers the colonists to Panay.

1570:
8 May Spanish soldiers under Martin de Goiti sail from Panay to reconniter Manila Bay. The troop assaults Sulayman’s fortification and captures it for Spain.

1571:
April The Spaniards under Legazpi leave Panay to take control of Manila.
16 May: The Spanish arrive at Manila Bay.
19 May: Feast of Santa Potenciana (Prudenciana), Legazpi lans in Manila and takes over the fortification and village of Rajah Sulayman. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi transfers the Spanish colony from Panay to Manila. Rajah Sulyaman, ruler of Manila, transfers his seat to Tondo.
24 Jun: Feast of San Juan Bautista, the City of Manila is officially established.

1574:
1 Jun: Philip II confers the city with the title “insigne y siempre leal cidudad de Manila.”
First galleon sent to Mexico loaded with Chinese goods and spices.
Manila is attacked by the Chinese Limahong. Gov. Gen. Guido Lavesarez, Legazpi’s successor, fortifies the city for the impending attack.
30 Aug: Spaniards successfully repel the Chinese on the feast of San Andres, who is then named patron of the city.

1578: Franciscan friars arrive in Manila. They reside for the time being with the Augustinians.

1579: Crown orders the construction of a cathedral in Manila, following the Papal approbation establishing the diocese of Manila, suffragan to Mexico.

1581: First bishop of Manila, Domingo de Salazar, OP, arrives in Manila. On board the same ship are three Jesuits assigned to the Philippines. Jesuits reside in Laguio, a site outside the city near present-day Pedro Gil St. and Roxas Blvd.

1583: Bp. Salazar convenes the Synod of Manila to discuss issues and strategies of evangelization and to address complaints about Spanish abuse.

28 Feb: Fire destroys much of the thatched buildings in Manila. The fire begins in San Agustín where the funeral monument to Gov. Gonzalo Ronquillo was set up. First buildings in stone appear after the great fire of 1583. Bp. Salazar and the Jesuit Antonio Sedeño are credited with this initiative.

Jesuits establish a church and house in the city.

Episcopal residence is rebuilt in stone and mortar under the direction of Antonio Sedeño S.J.

1587: Dominicans arrive in Manila.

1591-94: Gov. Gen. Perez de Dasmariñas begins rebuilding Manila’s fortifications in stone.

1593: Dominicans publish catechism in Tagalog, Doctrina Christiana. It is printed by a Chinese in Binondo using woodblocks.

1594: The Hermanidad de la Misericordia establishes the Colegio de Sta. Potenciana for Spanish girls.

1595: Manila is raised to the status of an archdiocese with dependent dioceses Cebu, Naga, Lal-lo under it. Religious orders are assigned specific areas in the Philippines for better management of the evangelization of the native population.
The Jesuits establish the Colegio de San José.

Manila is awarded an official seal consisting of a gold castle and a demilion and dolphin naiant, brandishing a naked sword, against fields of red and blue respectively.

The Dutch Wars (1600-48); Hispanization of lowland communities (1600-50)

1600:
30 August: A devastating earthquake damages Manila.

Dec: Antonio de Morga, oidor of the city of Manila, heads an armada against the invading Dutch ships, under Van Noort. Morga’s ship, San Diego, sinks near Isla de Fortun, in Batangas Bay.

1603: Three Chinese mandarins arrive in Manila to dispense justice among the Chinese an. This sparks rumors of an impending Chinese invasion among the Spaniards, and a rumor among the Chinese of a Spanish pre-emptive strike to massacre all the Chinese. This leads to an uprising. As a consequence of quelling the uprising, Chinese forced to live outside of the walled city.

Fire hits the city.

1604: San Agustin church is completed. (Note: Other sources give the date as 1607.)

1605: Government sets control on the galleon trade. Henceforth, all trade would pass through the government, which was in charge of building and outfitting the ship. Private enterprise with Mexico is forbidden.

1606: The Recollects, a reformed branch of the Augustinian order, arrive.

Fire hits Manila.

1618-29: Under Gov. Gen Alfonso Fajardo de Tenza a moat is built surrounding the city.

1618: The Recollects build a church in Intramuros, after more than a decade where they had a church and residence outside the walls.

1621: The Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buenviaje is brought by Gov. Niño de Tabora from Mexico and given to the care of the Jesuits, the image becomes the patroness of the galleons.
Second printing of the Doctrina christiana in Iloko published in San Agustin

1624: Construction of second monastery of San Agustin.
Jesuits establish the Imprenta de la Compañia, in the College of San Ignacio.

1632: The Jesuit church of San Ignacio designed by the Italian Jesuit Gianantonio Campioni is inaugurated.

1635-49: Under Gov. Gen. Hurtado de Corcuera, the moat surrounding Intramuros is improved, deepened and widened.
1639-40: Chinese uprising. Rumors that the Chinese would be summarily executed or deported spreads in the district of Santa Cruz and Mayhaligue. This sparks are revolt which spreads through the rest of southern Luzon.

1645:
30 Nov: Earthquake devastates Manila, many residence and buildings collapse, the walla are damaged, San Agustin loses one bell tower. The beginning of arquitectura mestiza.

1656: The Brothers of St. John of God take charge of a hospital under the patronage of the Misericordia. This hospital traces to the efforts of the Franciscans who had opened in the 16th century a small hospital facing their convent.

1663: Three Dominican tertiaries, led by Mother Francisca del Espiritu Santo established the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina (later becomes the Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena).

1668: The Colegio de San Juan de Letran is transferred to the site it presently occupies.

1671: Map of Intramuros by Ignacio Ortiz, O.P. published.

Dynastic change from the Hapsburg to the Borbon
(18th century)

1703: Gaspar Aquino de Belen writes and prints Mahal na Passion ni Jesuchristo na Tola at the Jesuit press in Intramuros.

1711: The Visayan vocabulario by Matheo Sanchez SJ is published.

Tagalog vocabulario of Juan de Noceda and Pedro San Lucar is published.

1727: Mapa topographica of Intramuros and surrounding districts by Antonio Fernández de Roxas published

1734: Map of the Philippines designed by Pedro Murillo Velarde, S.J., and engraved by Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay and Francisco Suarez, published by the Imprenta de la Compañia.

Death of Mother Ignacia de Santo Espiritu, foundress of the Beaterio de la Companía

1738-39: Gov. Gen. Fernando Valdez Tamon prepares a thorough report on the fortifications of the Philippines. Fortification of Manila improved during his administration; especially Fort Santiago where work was done ca. 1732.

1742: Further additions and revisions on the Tamon report is prepared and sent to Spain.

1744: A second edition of Murillo Velarde’s map is published.

1745: Gaspar de San Agustin publishes his monumental history, Chronicas.

1745-50. Abp. Juan de Arechederra improves the fortification of Manila.

1750: Mother Paula de Santissima Trinidad establishes Colegio de Sta. Rosa.

mid-1700: Ascendancy of the Sulu Sultanate; slave raids intensify. Conflict between the Spaniards and the Muslim communities of Mindanao intensify. Many coastal towns are under threat and are forced to fortify.

1754: Massive eruption of Taal volcano; ash fall darkens the skies over Manila. Numerous aftershocks rock southern Luzon, including Manila.

1762-64: British Occupation.

1762, 6 Oct: Abp Rojo del Río, intermin governor, surrenders Manila to the British under Admiral Samuel Cornish of the Royal Navy and Gen William Draper of the East India Company. The city is sacked by British troops, and a ransom is demaded of Abp. Rojo.

Simon de Anda escapes before the fall of Manila and rallys the populace outside of Manila to resists the British. He establishes headquarters in Bulacan.

1764: Return to Spanish Rule; British return the Philippines to Spanish jurisdiction is a ceremony held outside Sta. Cruz

1768: Jesuit expelled from the Philippines. Their properties and assests put on public auction.

1771: Strong earthquake hits Manila.

1772: Dominicans acquire buildings of Jesuits and establish a college of pharmacy and medicine. Archdiocese acquires the Colegio de San Ignacio building for the diocesan seminary.

1795: The Malaspina scientific expedition arrives in the Philippines. Antonio Brambila, the expedition’s illustrator and staff artists, draws images of Manila and its environs. These were later cuts a engravings and published. Ravenat, the French illustrator, drew images of the inhabitants of Manila and the Philippine.

1811: Map of Manila published.

1815: End of the Galleon trade.

1845: Earthquake hits Manila and surrounding areas.

Establishment of World Trade (1848-96)

1848: Opening of Manila to world trade. No longer dependent on the Manila galleon, the government opens Manila to direct trade with foreign countries. This spurs the development of Binondo and neighboring districts as the new commercial center of the Philippines.

1851: Map of Manila in Buzeta y Bravo’s encyclopedic dictionary of the Philippines

1859: Jesuit return to the Philippines, given charge of the Ateneo Municipal de Manila.

1861: Jesuits are sent from Manila to open mission in Mindanao and take over parishes vacated by the Recollects.

1863: Earthquake damages San Agustin, the cathedral, the Palacio and the Ayuntamiento.

1872: Earthquake damages the cathedral further.

The Filipino priests, Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez, and Jacinto Zamora are executed at Bagumbayan. Though innocent, they are implicated in the aborted revolt at the Cavite shipyard. Even the archbishop of Manila refused to defrock them prior to execution. Burgos led a campaign for the rights of native secular clergy.

1877: First volume of the grand edition of Flora de Filipinas appear. Subsequent volumes appear in 1878 and 1879. This work of Manuel Blanco, O.S.A. who set up a garden of tropical and medicinal plants in the second cloister of San Agustin was illustrated by noted artists of the era, Spanish and Filipino.

1889:
27-31 July: Jesuit innaugurate San Ignacio church, designed by Felix Roxas. Construction began in 1878.

1894: Augustinians acquire properties near the second cloister on 40 Calle Real and 7 Santa Lucia for a proposed Procuración General-Hospedaría-Enfermaría. Building was completed in 1898.

1895: Benedictines arrive in the Philippines.

1897: Capuchino church completed.

Philippine Revolution and Independence: 1896-98

1896:
17 August: Revolution against Spain breaks out, led by Andres Bonifacio.

30 December: Execution of Jose Rizal, after being detained in Fort Santiago from 26 December

1898:
12 June: Gen. and Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo declares Philippine independence in Kawit, Cavite.

American Occupation 1898-1946

1898:
10 December: By virtue of the Treaty of Paris forged by Spain and the United States, the Philippines, which included Guam and the Marianas, was ceded to the United States.

1905: Convening of the first National Assembly in the Marble Hall of the Ayuntamiento.

Second World War 1941-1945

1941: Second World War reaches the Philippines when Japanese planes bomb Manila in the morning of 8 December, after a successful attack at Pearl Harbor.

December: Manila declared an Open City.

1945:
February:
Massive destruction of Intramuros during the mortar and artillery bombardment by American troops in February.

Peace and Restoration 1946 to present

1946:
4 July: America recognizes Philippine Independence

Intramuros [(Latin) intra: within; muros:walls]. The popular name given to the walled city of Spanish Manila. The name “Manila” (it is claimed) derives from nilad, a type of mangrove that bore white waxy flowers (Ixora).

The City of Manila is built on a delta formed by the Pasig River, the only outlet of Laguna de Ba-e, a brackish lake surrounded by the provinces of Rizal (formerly Morong) and Laguna. Because it is a delta, the fertile land was drained by a number of estuaries (esteros); many unfortunately have been covered up, causing the seasonal inundation of the city during the season of the habagat or southwest monsoon. A street on the Pasig’s northern bank called Estero Cegado (dried up estuary) reminds us of these lost waterways. But a few esteros still remain open. Some have picturesque names like Tripa de Gallina (chicken gut), which snakes through the districts of Paco and Sta. Ana, the man-made Canal de la Reina in Binondo and Sunog Apog, which separates Isla de Balut from the rest of Tondo.

Manila’s indigenous inhabitants were the Tagalog (Taga-ilog: river people). They had been actively trading with the Chinese long before the Spaniards arrived. Evidence of this is the number of tradeware found in Santa Ana, the site of the the Tagalog settlement called Namayan and along the shores of the lake upstream. By the 16th century, however, Manila boasted of an international community brought together by trade: Chinese, Arabs, Borneans, Japanese, Indians.

In the 16th century, a thriving community of Tagalogs lived around the palisaded residence of its ruler, Rajah Sulayman. The palisade was built on the Pasig River’s southern bank, where the river empties unto a sheltered bay. A Muslim, Sulayman was related to Rajah Matanda (the older Rajah) and Rajah Lakandula, who ruled over the northern bank, called Tondo. The Rajahs were in turn related to the royalty of Brunei, a center of Islam, which was not just a religion but a way of life that shaped the development of political and social life.

Driven by hunger the Spanish colony, first established in Cebu in 1565, pushed steadily north. By 1569, a settlement was established in Pan-ay where news of a capacious bay and prospects of trade and supplies up north reached the colonists. In 1570, Legazpi dispatched his nephew Juan de Salcedo and Martin de Goiti to reconoiter north. They reached Mindoro where the inhabitants capitulated to Spanish guns, then headed for Batangas, and entered the Pansipit River all the way to Bonbon Lake (Taal). From there they moved on to Manila Bay and dropped anchor at a hook-shaped sandbar called Kawit (Cavite). This was the staging point for their attack on Sulayman’s fortification. Although 1570 marked the formal colonization of Manila, the rest of the colonists did not arrive until a year later in May. By then Sulayman’s palisade damaged by the previous years bombardment was up again. A battle ensued, Sulayman was forced to capitulate and abandon his outpost. The following month on 24 June 1571, the Feast of birth of John the Baptist, Manila was constituted as a city of the Spanish realm.

The Tagalogs who had been forced off their land settled either with their relatives in Tondo or eventually moved to an area south of the Spanish perimeter, called Bagumbayan (new town). This is the site presently ocupied by Luneta park bordering the district called Ermita.

Although Manila received its royal charter on 24 June 1571; given the honorific “ever loyal and noble City” in 1574 and much later awarded a coat of arms (1595), consisting of a castle or at chief and a demi-lion and dolphin naiant at base, the city remained for decades without the wall nor the buildings of mortar and adobe with which we associate Intramuros.

From 1571-74, the only defense of the city was a palisade, reinforced with earth around the same site as Sulayman’s fortification. But in September 1574, alarmed by news on an impending attack by the Chinese Limahong, Legazpi’s successor as governor general, Guido de Lavezares, ordered the building of makeshift defenses which consisted of “board, stakes and boxes and barrels filled with sand.” Limahong almost overrun the city, while Martin de Goiti, who was indisposed beause of fever, was killed during the attack at his residence in Bagumbayan. Only the timely return of Juan de Salcedo and his troops, who had been sent north to “pacify” the inhabitants and search for gold, saved the city. The day was the 30th of August, the Feast of the Apostle Andrew. Limahong was forced to retreat, and found his way north to Pangasinan where his troops were finally defeated. The city decided to name St. Andrew patron of the city in gratitude for what was believed to be his heavenly intervention.

Realizing the need to fortify, Lavesares began surrounding the city with a palisade which was completed under the third governor general Francisco de Sande.

In 1581, a Jesuit named Antonio Sedeño arrived in Manila. He had some knowledge of architecture and was responsible for rebuilding the episcopal palace in stone after a fire in 1583 razed the city. Gov. Gen. Santiago de Vera asked the Jesuit to design a fortification for Manila’s southern and most vulnerable flank. Sedeño designed a circular roofed fortification in the style of medieval towers. The tower was dedicated to the Nuestra Señora de Guia, whose image was kept in a hermitage just outside the city walls.

Construction of a stone wall was begun in earnest between 1591-94, under Gov. Gen. Gomez Perez Dasmariñas. He had the NS de Guia tower redesigned and integrated into a more modern wall system. Apparently, Sedeño’s circular tower was still standing in the early 17th century. The oidor Antonio de Morga (Sucesos 1609) describes the de Guia as spacious with places for soldiers quarters; however, later in the same book he contradicts himself by saying that Dasmariñas had the de Guia razed. The fortifications of Intramuros were being constantly repaired and improved under different governors general from Dasmariñas’ time until 1872 when the last recorded work on the fortifications was completed.

From 1618-24, because of the threat posed by the Dutch, Gov. Gen. Alfonso Fajardo de Tenza had a moat dug on along the city’s eastern flank. In 1603 and from 1629-30 the Chinese living near Manila rose up in revolt. The 1630 revolt spread to other neighboring provinces. As a consequence of this uprising, the Chinese were driven out of the city and forced to live in a ghetto, known as Parian, one arquebus shot distant from the walls. An open space was built between the city and the Chinese ghetto. But the inhabitants of Manila needed the goods and services of the Chinese, so they were allowed to bring their goods to a gate, which faced the Parian.

Under Gov. Gen Hurtado de Corcuera (1635-44) the moat was expanded and covered walkways constructed. We have an idea of the city’s moat because they are depicted in a 1671 map designed by Ignacio Muñoz, O.P. The moat runs around the eastern and southern flank of the citadel. A contra foso (outer moat) appears in this map, separated from the principal moat by an island formed between the two. The moats are linked at the Baluarte de San Nicolás by a narrow canal. A bridge across the inner moat links Puerta del Parian with the island, where a small outer fortification and curtain wall (a tenaile) was built to protect the gate. Puerta Real which at this time at the end of Calle Real del Palacio was also protected by an outer fortification, a demi-lune.

War, fire, earthquake and other natural and human-made disasters were crucial in the creation of architecture best adapted to the Philippines. There were a number of strong earthquakes in the 1600s, in fact, the century began with one. Another major earthquake struck in 1645, damaging both the walls and many residences and buildings, which by now were built in stone and mortar. This event marked the beginning of arquitectura mestiza, European building traditions colliding with local traditions and the exigencies of living in the Ring of Fire. Documents indicate that by 1630, Manila was filled with residences patterned after Spanish-Mexican models. These consisted of two story stone and mortar structures many vaulted in stone. A few went even higher. These structures were dangerous when the earth shook. After 1645, a mixed style appeared consisting of a lower story of mortar and stone, and an upper story of wood. Stone vaults were avoided, instead tile roofs resting on stout timbers, and supported by lintel and post construction were preferred. Even public buildings like churches adapted this method. Of the vaulted buildings in Manila only the San Agustin church remains. This was completed in 1604 long before the constructional change.

Like the buildings within the walls, the fortification itself underwent modification and repair. Gov. Sabiniano Manrique de Lara (1653-63) had the walls repaired and improved as a consequence of the damages wrought by the 1645 earthquake.

The 18th century saw dynastic change in Spain, the Hapsburg ended their rule and the Bourbons succeeded. Monarchs of the Englightenment, the Bourbons sought to streamline government and modernize it. Among the monarchs ‘ concerns was the fortification of the Philippines, because of its strategic location in the western Pacific. In 1705, the crown sent Juan Ramirez de Ciscara, a military engineer to check on the fortifications in the Philippines and to plan improvments based on modern concepts. He worked on the defenses of Manila, Cavite, and Zamboanga which he rebuilt in 1719, after it had been demolished in 1663. In 1734, under Gov. Gen Fernando Valdez Tamon (1729-39) Manila’s fortification was improved further. Responding to the directive of the king to supply information as a fire had damaged the Royal archives, Tamon sent a report on the status of colonial fortifications in the Philippines in 1738. Not content with what he considered as a hasty report, the following year he sent a fuller and more complete version. This report, elegantly presented in handsome calligraphy and illustrated with a Philippine map and plans of the fortifications arranged from north to south, is a snap shot of the defenses of the Philippines, including Intramuros (fols. 3-9). Valdez Tamon commissioned a map, designed by Antonio Fernandez Roxas in 1729. The map presumably shows Intramuros before the improvements done under the governor. Apparently, the moat seen in the Muñoz map, had deteriorated as the island near Baluarte de San Nicolás had broken up into smaller sections and the outer moat had merged with the inner moat.

While awaiting Gaspar de Torre’s (1739-45) succesor, Fray Juan Arechederra, Archbishop of Manila, took charge of government. From a military perspective, Arechederra’s rule was significant. Assesing the danger of British attack, he ordered the consolidation of walls of the city, reconstruction of the city gate by the Pasig, restoration of the foundry, and an inventory of the city’s stock of ammunition and weapons -all told, improving the defenses of Manila.

In 1762, during the Seven Years War, the British sailed to Manila and surrounded the city. They breached the southern flank of the walls, east of Baluarte de San Diego, after bombarding it for almost a week. They had set their batteries at the churches just outside the walls. For two years, they occupied Manila until 1764, when control was returned to the Spanish.

The British occupation emphasized the need to improve the defenses of Manila. In 1769 Dionisio O’Kelley, a military engineer, proposed deepening the moat fronting the sea and adding parapets to the walls. By 1772, a moat had been dug separating Fort Santiago from the rest of the city. Puerta Real was moved to its present site in 1780 and between 1781-87 Manila’s system of fortification assumed most of its present shape. For a long time, the military had assessed the six settlements that grew just outside the walls as threats to security. Long delayed in its plans to demolish these settlements because of strong opposition from the Church, the military finally executed the plan after the British occupation. Demolished were the settlements of Bagumbayan, Santiago, San Juan, San Fernando Dilao, San Miguel and the Parian. Dilao was reestablished in the district we know today as Paco and San Miguel was transferred across the Pasig to the site it presently occupies. The Chinese transferred to Binondo where there was a thriving community of Christianized Chinese mestizos. The rest of the villages disappeared completely.

In 1861, Puerta Isabel II the last gate of Intramuros was built. This meant redesigning the Ravelin de Sto. Domingo and the Magallanes gate, which opened to the river and where a monument in honor of Magellan stood.

To the end of the 19th century, Intramuros remained a civic, religious and educational center, however, trade and commerce had moved to Binondo, at the northen side of the Pasig. Here British and American trading houses were established by the second half of the 19th century, after Manila was opened to direct foreign trade in 1848. Binondo developed rapidly as a business and residential district attracting well-to-do mestizo families, who built sumputous houses, filled with things foreign, mostly British, and foreign merchants and trader, who found Binondo more congenial and cosmopolitan than medieval Intramuros. The Pasig became a busy harbor filled with schooners, steamships, cascos and other boats.

To attract business to the southern bank, the almacenes or the royal storehouse was built just outside the walls and a new aduana or customs house was built. The almacenes replaced the 18th century Alcacería de San Fernando, a market and a dwelling for transient Chinese traders, originally housed in an octagonal building, in Binondo.

But in 1863, a severe earthquake damaged Manila, many public buildings were in ruin among them the cathedral, the Ayuntamiento and the Palacio del Gobernador. While both the cathedral and the Ayuntamiento were rebuilt, the palace was not. An earthquake in 1880, sealed the decision not to rebuild the Palacio. The governor general transferrred residence to Malacañan, a country house built by the Rochas in the San Miguel district. And since then Malacañan has remained the residence of the chief executive of the land. Towards the end of the century, Intramuros was losing her glitter. Intramuros remained essentially the home of ecclesiatics and civil servants, and the educational center of Manila.

In 1898, after two years of fighting for independence, the Katipuneros had surrounded the walled city, threatening the Spanish within. The Spaniards, however, preferred to surrender to the American armada under Commodore Dewey who had defeated the Spanish forces at Manila Bay. In December of that year, the Spaniards ceded the Philippines to the United States, meanwhile Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo had proclaimed Philippine independence on 12 June, and the Philippine Republic was established. Two more years of fighting ensued between the Americans and the Filipinos until 1901 when American civil rule was established. The American quickly moved to establish American institutions in the Philippines. They took over public buildings in Intramuros. The Ayuntamiento became the site for the 1907 Philippine Assembly, precursor of the Congress.

To improve infrastructure, the Bureau of Public Buildings was established. As part of infrastructure improvement, in 1904, the Americans razed section of the wall to allow better traffic flow through the walled city. The wall was breached at the southern end of Real del Palacio, an opening was made at the end of Calle Victoria, damaging the Revellin de los Recoletos and a stretch from the Aduana to Fort Santiago was demolished. In 1905, the Chicago-based American architect and city planner, Daniel H. Burnham, arrived in the Philippines to create a master plan for the urban development of the country. In Burnham’s master plan for Manila, he proposed conserving the walled city, filling the mosquito-infested moat with sand and converting it to a grass covered green space. In the process of filling, much of the external fortifications were covered among them the bridge connecting the Parian gate to its ravelin. Later when a parking lot was built in front of the Puerta Real ravelin the curved bridge approaching the ravelin was also covered. The moat became the Municipal Golf course of Manila (Intramuros Golf Club), one of the oldest golf courses in Manila.

In 1932, a fire hit Intramuros damaging greatly the southwestern section of the city. By then civil government had moved out of the city with the construction of the legislature and other government buildings just outside the walled city. While the residences in Intramuros continued to be lived in, the demographic of the city was changing. More and more transients-students at the schools and universities, goverment employees, and American on assignment overseas-occupied the walled city’s grand old houses. Many, abandoned by their original owners, were subdivided into smaller units but sharing a common kitchen and toilet and put to let. Two moviehouses opened in Intramuros, so did a number of bars, bakeries and eateries. Intramuros was losing its customary gentility. Intramuros became a city of boarding houses. But still Intramuros remained as Manila’s religious center as the different churches maintained their round of religious festivals. The Neoclassical San Ignacio church, the Neogothic Santo Domingo and the recently built Capuchin church (1898) were favorite sites for fashionable weddings, including those of Americans.

On 12 November 1936, Commonwealth Act no. 171 was passed to conserve Intramuros as monument to the past, this was in response to moves to demolish the walls completely and open the old city for redevelopment. The law also promulgated that new constructions, repairs and renovations keep to the Spanish colonial style.

The utter destruction of Intramuros occurred in a short time during the month of February 1945. While Japanese bombers had attacked the American bases on 8 December 1941, and subsequently on 26 and 27 December dropped bombs on Intramuros, damage was limited to the northeast sector. Damaged were Santo Domingo and its adjoining convento, Santa Catalina, San Juan de Letran, Santo Tomás University and the Intendencia. Manila had been declared an open city on 26 December and on 2 January 1942, Japanese troops occupied the city. Despite the arrests and occassional harrassments, some semblance of city life returned until 21 December 1944 when the Japanese ordered the government under Pres. José P. Laurel moved to Baguio.

Japanese troops were left to hold Intramuros with orders to die fighting. By 3 February 1945, American troops were closing in; they had rescued prisoners concentrated in the Sampaloc campus of Santo Tomás University, north of the walled city. On 5 February, the Japanese forced residents to abandon their houses and held them in the cathedral, San Agustin, and the ruined Beaterio de Santa Rosa. Adult males were separated on the 7th and brought to Fort Santiago. The next two days, the troops torched the city and planted bobby traps. By the 23rd American troops had entered the fortification and rescued civilians held at San Agustin.

But the troops entered a devastated city where they saw some 10,000 civilians executed by the Japanese. The fortifications and the buildings of the city did not survive the fire ignited by the Japanese and the bombardment by Americans. Only San Agustin church and the adjoining monastery were spared. All else was reduced to ruins. Ruined shells that survived the bombardment were subsequently torn down by military engineers using bulldozers and cables. The ruins were breeding grounds for disease because of the many dead, and clearing the rubble was a way to prevent an epidemic. Lost in the takeover of Manila was Puerta Santa Lucia; Fort Santiago’s elaborate gate was blasted to allow a tank to enter as was a section of the wall at the end of Calle Real.

From the 1950s-60s, Intramuros remained abandoned as the religious orders moved their principal churches or houses elsewhere: the Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, Capuchins to Quezon City, the Recollects to San Sebastian in Quiapo, the brothers of San Juan de Dios to Pasay City. Sto. Tomas University moved to the Sampaloc district. The Ateneo de Manila which had moved out of the city because of the 1932 fire, moved even further way from Ermita to Loyola Heights in Quezon City. The Colegio de Sta. Isabel moved to Taft Ave. and the Real Monasterio de Sta. Clara to Quezon City on a bluff overlooking Marikina Valley. Of the damaged churches, only the Manila Cathedral was rebuilt. Although it retained the Romanesque lines of its historic design, the interior and the decorative details were all new, the result of creative interaction between Filipino and Italian artists. The rebuilt cathedral was consecrated in 1958.

As for the rest of Intramuros, high rise buildings, apartments, commercial strips were built in utter disregard of the law requiring that construction should conform to the colonial style. The green area around the walls became a garbage dump and a bus terminal. The stones of the wall were quarried for new constructions, and Intramuros became the haven for the urban poor and parking lot for cargo trucks and container vans because of its close proximity to the port. Streets and plazas were reconfigured into parking lots or fenced in.

The National Historical Institute started working on restoring the walls with the help of civic groups and ad hoc committees, the most active were the Intramuros Restoration Committee of 1966 which repaired the gates and the Armed Forces Ladies’ Committee which restored Fort Santiago’s moat and other structures like the Fortín de San Francisco, and the Bastión de Santa Lucia.

In 1979, the Intramuros Administration was created by Presidential Decree 1616 and placed under the Ministry of Human Settlements. The IA worked out a comprehensive plan regarding development and zoning of Intramuros. It built Casa Manila and a row of replica houses beside it, restored several plazas, particularly Plaza Roma and Plaza Sampalucan, Puerta Sta. Lucia, and the revellin of Puerta del Parian. IA continues to supervise Intramuros restoration. Presently being restored is the Intendencia which will house the historical section of the Philippine Archives. Work began in 1996 as part of the centennial celebration of the Philippine Revolution.

Touring Intramuros is an exercise in imagination. A bit of nostalgia and romance helps because, despite efforts to restore Intramuros, the old city is a mere skeleton of its once opulent self. First hit by Japanese bombs on 26 and 27 December 1941, the city suffered damage on its riverside flank. Among the casualties of this bombardment was the Neogothic church of Santo Domingo. But the city remained very much intact until February 1945 when in the space of about two weeks 300 years of history were obliterated by fires and bombs, triggered by retreating Japanese troops, and fierce bombardment and mortar fire by Americans.

This was not the only time Intramuros suffered destruction-earthquake, fire, war -but, from 1595, when stone walls began surrounding the city the fortifications and buildings were repaired, even improvedafter each disaster. The Second World War, however, tolled the end of the city as city. Manila of the post war years were the outlying districts: classy and gentile Ermita and Malate, frenetic Santa Cruz and Quiapo, and entrepreneurial Escolta and Binondo. Fifty years later, Intramuros has completely lost its centrality to new business and commercial districts in Makati, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Quezon City and the outlying suburbs of Alabang, Muntinglupa and San Pedro, Laguna. And the city continues to sprawl, the only continuity with its old core is the name “Manila.”

Intramuros was a living space, buildings came and went as they were damaged, renovated or expanded. Because Intramuros has a long history and complex development, the same site may have been occupied by more than one structure over time. Institutions may have transferred sites and streets renamed, closed or reconfigured. This poses a challenge when organizing a tour. How retain the sweep of history while walking through a city so laid out that structures from different centuries stand cheek by jowl. We hope that we have solved some of that dilemma in the five itineraries proposed. Surely there are a number of ways of touring Intramuros beyond and different from the five delineated.

Of the five itineraries (one primary tour and four alternate routes) the first reflects our own preference while the alternate routes are based on published guides. While we acknowledge indebtedness to these previously published guides, the final shape of the tours proposed is the result of our personal choice and experience.

In and around Intramuros is can be complemented by other published material on the walled city. Where such material exists like a more comprehensive guide or history to a particular place, this is listed in the Resources section of this guide. We strongly recommend that the serious visitor get copies of these publications and read them before hand because much more can be said about Intramuros, which are omitted in this guide.

Done at a leisurely pace, each tour should take between one and a half to two hours to complete. However, stops at the San Agustin Museum, Casa Manila and Bahay Tsinoy can add about 30 to 40 minutes each per visit.

* The Primary Route

Tour 1 BEGINS south at the monument to Legazpi and Urdaneta, then proceeds to Puerta Real, exits through the ravellin, enters the city through a breech at Gen. Luna (formerly Real) turns west (left) toward Bastion de San Diego, walks part of the wall, and descends at Victoria to reconnect with Gen. Luna, stopping at San Agustin, Casa Manila, Bahay Tsinoy, Plaza Roma and heads north to Fort Santiago

* Alternate Routes

Tour 2 BEGINS north at Fort Santiago and heads south to Puerta Real stopping at Plaza Roma, San Agustin, Casa Manila, walks south to Gen. Luna, turns west (left) at Muralla toward Bastion de San Diego.

Tour 3 BEGINS at Puerta Real, through Gen. Luna (Calle Real del Palacio) turns west (left) at Calle Real to Calle Sta. Lucia, heads north (right) to Postigo, turns east (right) to Plaza Roma, turns north (left) to Fort Santiago, backtracks, turns east (left) at Andres Soriano Jr. (Aduana) to Puerta Isabel II, then through Muralla, following the perimeter of the city toward Puerta Real where the tour ends. This is the route outlined in A Walking Tour of Historic Intramuros by N.P. Cushner (1971: out of print).

Note: To add a visit to San Agustin church and cloister and Casa Manila, turn east (right) at Anda walk toward Gen. Luna. After the visit, return to Gen. Luna and walk toward Plaza Roma for the rest of the tour. To visit Bahay Tsinoy proceed to the corner of Anda and Cabildo.

Tour 4 BEGINS at Puerta Isabel II and follow the perimeter of the city, then turn east (right) at Postigo toward Plaza Roma and north to Fort Santiago. This is the route outlined in the Intramuros Administration 1980 publication, Intramuros: A Historical Guide by Esperanza Bunag-Gatbonton.

Note: To add a visit to San Agustin church and cloister and Casa Manila, turn east (right) at Anda walk toward Gen. Luna. To visit Bahay Tsinoy proceed to the corner of Anda and Cabildo. After the visit, return to Gen. Luna and walk toward Plaza Roma for the rest of the tour. The above two guides were written before the construction of Casa Manila and the expansion of San Agustín’s museum space.

Tour 5 WALKING THE WALLS offers an altogether different vantage point for touring the city. The walls are no longer complete nor continuous because the northern section was torn down early in the 20th century for better access to the wharf along the Pasig and sections of the wall were removed to ease vehicular traffic. BEGIN at Puerta Santa Lucia, at the end of Anda St. Follow the wall moving south until the Bastion de San Diego. Walk to Puerta Real, however, backtrack to San Diego for an easy descent to street level. Return to the top of the wall along Muralla, ascending the restored ramp at Baluarte de San Gabriel. Continue until Puerta del Parian and descend. Walk along Muralla toward Puerta Isabel II. Because of the heat and humidity, this tour is best done early in the morning or late in the afternoon, after four.

PRINCIPAL STREETS: These corresponded to the cardo and decumanus of the Classical Roman street plan, emulated by many Renaissance theoreticians, urban planners and designers.

Calle Real del Palacio: Now Gen. Luna. The principal road of Manila, running north south. Named for the governor general’s palace.

(Calle Real del) Parian: The other principal street of Manila running east-west Formerly Calle del Parian, because it lead to the Parian gate. Called Real, after 1780, when the Puerta Real at the end of the Calle Real del Palacio was moved west and the original gate blocked with stone and mortar as a precaution against an army charge that would lead directly into the heart of the city. The Parian became an alternate route for coming in and going out of the walled city.

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PERIMETER ROAD

Muralla: Perimeter road within the walls; continuation of Fundición

Fundición: Perimeter road within the walls so named because it passed a military foundry at the Baluarte de San Diego; the foundry is still depicted in 18th century maps. Connects with Muralla

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Northward-Southward Axis

Arzobispo: Named because the archbishop’s palace was located along this street. The site of the archbishop’s palace is now occupied by the Archdiocese of Manila’s guest house and chancery. The north end of Arsobispado was named Audiencia because it passed by the building of the Real Audiencia.

Cabildo: Named after the cabildo or city council which had its meeting hall along the street. The cabildo building was also known as Ayuntamiento.

Magallanes: Named after Ferdinand Magellan

Solana: Formerly Fonda. Probably named in honor Governor Urbiztondo, the Marques de la Solana

Legazpi/ San Juan de Dios: Formerly Bomba or bomb. Named in honor of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who was the first governor general of the Philippines, its eastern section was named after the hospital run by the Brothers of San Juan de Dios.

Escuela: Named after an unknown school

Letran: Formerly Cerrada, named after Colegio de San Juan de Letran

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Eastward -Westward Axis

Almacenes: A short stretch perpendicular to Plaza Militar, named for the Royal storehouses that stood outside the walls, beside the Pasig River. The street led to a small gate called Almacenes.

Sta. Clara: Named after the Real Convento de Sta. Clara, a convent of contemplative Franciscan nuns, founded by Sor Geronima Asuncion in 1621.

Aduana: Presently Andres Soriano Jr., after the industrialist and entrepreneur who founded San Miguel Corporation. The old name referred to the Custom house at the northeastern end of the street. The Custom house was also called Intendencia.

Postigo: Formerly Cruzadas or Crusades, leads to the postern gate or postigo; connects with Calle Sto. Tomás

Sto. Tomas: The eastern end terminated at the Universidád de Sto. Tomás; connects with Postigo

Beaterio: Named after the Beaterio de Sta. Catalina

Anda: Named after Simon de Anda who organized the resistance during the British occupation of Manila (1762-64).

San Francisco: Named after the Franciscan convent and church

Santa Potenciana: Named after the patroness of Manila Santa Potenciana and a college for girls dedicated to her; the western section is called San Agustín.

Novales: Named after Capitán Andres Novales

Victoria: Named after the 85-ton vessel used by Sebastian Elcano to circumnavigate the globe. At the western end of Victoria, Gen. Douglas MacArthur set up his office with the address 1 Victoria St.

San José: Named after the Colegio de San José

Maleçon: Road built outside the walls, along the shore, beginning at the mouth of the Pasig and ending in a half-moon turn, called Luneta. This road was built for the pleasure of the Manileños, who went for a leisurely evening walk or carriage ride after the 6:00 P.M. Angelus. A brass band played marching tunes for this social occassion that ended around 8:00 P.M. when the promenaders returned home for a late supper, as was customary in Spain.

The principal church of Manila it was rebuilt nine times, ten if we count an earlier bamboo and thatch church built in 1571 before Manila’s constitution as a diocese. The first three of ten structures were of light material, the fourth was of stone and masonry. The last cathedral structure was built after World War II (1954-58).

Churches of light material. At the site presently occupied by the cathedral, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi had a temporary church built in 1571. Technically, the church was not a cathedral because Manila was no a diocese yet nor did it have a bishop. A catherdal by Church law is the diocesan bishop’s church.

A Royal Decree of 13 May 1579 ordered that a cathedral be built in Manila, although the city did not have its bishop until the arrival of Domingo de Salazar, O.P. in September 1581. Salazar completed the construction of wood, bamboo and nipa structure in 21 December of that year and placed the church under the advocacy of the Immaculate Conception. Damaged by the fire of 1583, which razed Manila, a temporary church was hastily built but was damaged by a typhoon in 1588.

Churches in stone and masonry. Although a Royal decree of 1587 ordered the construction of a more permanent church, nothing was done until 1591 under Gov. Gen. Gomez Perez Dasmariñas. Work seems to have gone slowly because a 1597 report states that the church had neither bell tower, baptistery, chapter hall nor cloister. The earthquakes of 1599 and 1600 ruined the church completely. This was the first cathedral built of stone and masonry.

A second cathedral in masonry and stone was begun under Abp. Miguel Benavidez in 1603 but work was suspended in 1605, work resumed in 1610 and the church was solemnly blessed in 1614. This cathedral had three naves, seven side chapels including the main one and 10 altars. The structure suffered heavy damage because of an earthquake on 1 August 1621. Although work to reconstruct the church was done under Don Pedro Flavio, interim administrator of the archdiocese, the work came to naught when the 1645 earthquake reduced the church to rubble. It was necessary to build a temporary church in the Plaza Mayor.

On 20 April 1659, under Abp. Miguel de Poblete, the cornerstone for a third cathedral in stone was laid. Poblete died without seeing the church completed although he had left his estate for its completion. In 1671, the capilla mayor was finished, and during the reign of Abp. Diego de Camacho y Avila, the two sacristies, chapter hall and other offices were completed and work on the belfry begun. The cathedral was designed simply: four chapels to the right and three to the left flanked the central nave, a fourth and larger chapel with its sacristy, the Sagrario, was erected to the left. In 1737, Abp. Juan Angel Rodriguez replaced the wooden dome with one of stone.

On 12 August 1749, Taal Volcano in Batangas erupted violently, sending plumes of ash as far north as Manila. Earthquakes and aftershocks accompanied the eruption because in a report of the same year by Abp. Pedro Martínez de Árizala, the archbishop states that he found the cathedral’s fabric so damaged that it was beyond repair. The Jesuit architect Joaquin Mezquita and the military engineer Tomas de Castro concurred with the bishop. Both noted how the fabric was badly designed from the very start and recommended that a new cathedral be built from ground up.

The fourth cathedral. Preparations for the new cathedral were begun when demolition of the old structure began in January 1751. On 17 April 1751, a royal decree ordered the submission of the new plans and a detailed cost estimate. Abp. Pedro Martínez de Árizala had the cathedral thoroughly rebuilt following the plans of the Theatine priest, Juan de Uguccioni. This can be considered as the fourth stone cathedral because Uguccioni had the floor level raised, demolished the last two piers of the main nave and the sacristy to build a transept and apse, raised arches to support a dome and opened the upper registers of the nave for a clerestory. He had five of the seven side chapel demolished, expanded the Sagrario and designed a new façade influenced by the Il Gesú in Rome. Work on the renovated cathedral was completed in 1771.

A fifth renovation of the cathedral happened after 1771. How thorough the renovation was is not clear but by the end of the 18th century the cathedral had a new facade designed by Nicolas Valdes. The Valdes’ facade retained much of the character of Ugucionni’s design; however, Valdes removed the volutes flanking the second story, added finial and statuary to the facade. The cathedral survived to the next century when on 3 June 1863 it suffered extensive damage because of an earthquake.

Various plans for repairing and renovating the cathedral were drawn, among them is design by Vicente Serrano y Salvatierri. Seranno proposed a Romanesque inspired facade flanked by twin towers.

The sixth cathedral was started in 1872 with the architects Luciano Oliver, Vicente Serrano and Eduardo Lopez Navarro working at it in succession. The facade hewed closely to Serrano’s earlier proposal, minus the flanking towers. The bell tower which had stood at a distance from the nave since the time of Abp. Poblete was rebuilt on the same spot, following the old plan of six graduated octagonal floors connected to the nave by a long corridor.

The cathedral plan followed the Uguccioni’s, except for the addition of more side chapels, and the new design combined elements from Byzantine, Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic architecture. Isabelo Tampingco designed and executed the decorations for the portals.

Blessed on 8 December 1879, the cathedral lost its tower during the 1880 earthquake. A more squat and lower structure of four stories replaced the tall structure. This is the picture of the cathedral that appears in early 20th century photographs.
Damaged in 1945, during the bombardment of Manila, the cathedral (the seventh in stone) was rebuilt from 1954-58, following plans by Filipino and Italian architects and designers. The principal architect was Pablo Antonio, who retained the Romanesque facade saved from the war but built a slender quadrilateral bell tower closer to the nave. He eliminated the narrow corridor that joined the two structures found in the earlier plans. Narrow windows covered with stained glass replaced the clerestory found in the turn of the century structure. Galo Ocampo designed the stained glass windows, which depict the Virgin Mary under her different titles (apse and transept) and the corporal and spiritual works of mercy (nave).

Collateral chapels, each with a particular advocacy, flank the triple nave. Beneath the main altar is a crypt where the archbishops of Manila are buried.

Worth noting is the bronze main door, which depict the history of the cathedral. The doors were designed and cast in Italy.
Sagrario. A chapel built beside the cathedral as a private oratory of the cathedral canons. Following medieval practice, the bishop of a diocese had his own community of priests or canons who handled the affairs of the diocese. They, like monks, had common prayers daily spaced through out the day. For this they gathered in the Sagrario. The Sagrario also functioned as the parish for the Spaniards living in Manila. The Sagrario was not rebuilt when the cathedral was reconstructed in 1954.

After the Second World War, the Capuchins transferred their central house to Quezon City, in a lot along Retiro St., where they built a church in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes. Like the Lourdes of Intramuros, the church of Quezon City was Manila’s favorite for fashionable weddings.

Mother Ignacia took residence in a house across the San Ignacio church to make it easy for her and her companions to go to church for Mass and for other spiritual exercises. This was in 1684. The congregation supported itself by doing manual work and by begging. They were known for helping women make a spiritual retreat following the Ignatian method. They assisted them in preparing for confession and communion and read spiritual works for them in Tagalog.

Mother Ignacia died in 1748 and was buried in the Jesuit church of San Ignacio.

By the 19th century the Beatas had a residence along Calle Santa Lucia. The Beaterio was simple structure of mortar. Its main entrance was through an arched portal, which led to a large hall; the wings to the left were for residences. Architecturally there was nothing very distinctive about the structure-the windows were simple rectangles. The beaterio’s site, formerly occupied by Allied Warehouse (IA warehouse), is now occupied by a reconstruction of the 19th-century beaterio building. Part of the reconstructed replica is used by the spiritual descendants of Mother Ignacia, but the greater part of the building is a historical museum, that celebrates volunteerism. It was built while the DOT secretary was Richard Gordon.

Rome recognized the Beatas de la Compañia as a religious congregation in 1948. The primitive rule of life from Mother Ignacia’s time became the basis for their constitution. The congregation was renamed Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM). The RVM motherhouse is along N. Domingo St., in San Juan. The RVM sisters run schools and have houses in the United States and Papua New Guinea.

This late 18th-century church was characterized by a four-story bell tower of diminishing dimensions built to the left of the church. The church was cruciform, with a crossing tower covering the intersection of main nave and transept. The church facade was similar in temper to the Franciscan’s but less the ornate and more architectural.

It was the church interior, however, that distinguished the church. The main altar was in the Baroque style. Divided into niches and stories, the gilded retablo alternated images and painted canvases. In this church, the famous Recollect organ builder, Fray Diego Cera, who built the Las Piñas bamboo organ, constructed his masterpiece. He built a massive pipe organ, outfitting the nave with pipes some ingenuously hidden so that when sounded, the walls itself seemed to sing.
In the 19th century, the church walls were painted with figurative drawings. One on the transept walls depicted the Pope and St. Peter’s in Rome.

The church was damaged during World War II. The Recollects transferred their central house to San Sebastian in Quiapo where they had built a steel church in 1891. Only recently have the Recollects in the Philippines become an independent province, named in honor of St. Exequiel Moreno, who at one time was assigned to the Philippines.