View allAll Photos Tagged Intramuros
Many thanks to the Augustinian Fathers for allowing us, the Seniors of CSA, to go up and see the museum.
10 December 2011
Photo taken in 1899.
(Photo courtesy of Philippine-American War website written and compiled by Arnaldo Dumindin)
Homework: Visual Textures (Silhouettes, street life, visual texture)
The contrast between rough and smooth.
Manila Metropolitan Cathedral, the ecclesiastical seat of the Archdiocese of Manila.
Plaza Roma, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
The main façade of the Cathedral is graced by statues of saints sculpted in Roman travertine stone, originally made of molave wood in the old cathedral.
An imposing rose-glass window, set above the main portal, accentuates the Cathedral's façade, typical of Romanesque revival architecture..
These kalesas and their drivers offer guided tours around the walls of Intramuros.
© 2009 Ashley D. Cristal, All Rights Reserved. Use of this photograph in ANY form is NOT permitted without permission from the author.
Intramuros (Latin, "within the walls") is the oldest district and historic core of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Also called the Walled City, it was the original city of Manila and was the seat of government when the Philippines was a component realm of the Spanish Empire. Districts beyond the walls were referred as the extramuros of Manila, meaning "outside the walls".
Construction of the defensive walls was started by Spanish colonial government in the late 16th century to protect the city from foreign invasions. The 0.67-square-kilometre (0.26 sq mi) walled city was originally located along the shores of the Manila Bay, south of the entrance to Pasig River. Guarding the old city is Fort Santiago, its citadel located at the mouth of the river. Land reclamations during the early 20th-century subsequently obscured the walls and fort from the bay.
Intramuros was heavily damaged during the battle to recapture the city from the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. Reconstruction of the walls was started in 1951 when Intramuros was declared a National Historical Monument, which is continued to this day by the Intramuros Administration (IA) [Wikipedia.org]
The San Agustin Church. Completed back in 1607, this is the oldest existing church in The Philippines.
INTRAMUROS, the old capital of Manila, was built in 1571. It remains a monumental, if ruined, relic of the Spanish period in Philippine history. It is a city within a city, separated from the rest of Manila by its crumbling walls. This ancient capital had well-planned streets, plazas, the Governor's Palace and churches. However, many buildings were reduced to shambles in World War II.
So I visited Intramuros, the old walled sanctuary of the Spanish (and later the Japanese). It is also the oldest district in City of Manila and much of the defesive walls are still standing even after it was shelled to death during WWII.
I took a little sightseeing tour of the district on one these equine creatures. His name was Rambo and almost took a dump on my shoe.
Our tour guide was pretty good too. He always emphasized every detail in numbers:
- 7 churches
- 7 colleges
- 14 Spanish guns
- 14 Filipino Presidents
He did this just so he could say that Intramuros also had a golf course. And the golf course has 18 Holes!
Good stuff!