August 29, 2010

Old and new

The facade and bell tower of the Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo Ruiz, better known as Binondo Church after the district in the City of Manila where it is located, date back from 1852 and are the only parts of the church, built by Spanish Dominicans for Chinese immigrants who converted to Christianity, which survived WWII. The roof over the driveway is definitely part of the 1946 to 1984 restoration, as you can tell from the smoothness of the stone.

facade of the Binondo Church

20 comments:

James said...

What a beautiful old building.

p.s. my photo gives me the creeps too. :)

escape said...

one of my favorite church in manila. i really wish i can go up that bell tower.

Randy said...

That is a beautiful church Hilda. I don't know about those lights though.

Kaori said...

Who is that person in the window? Both the old and new parts of the church are beautiful :-D

joo said...

Beutifully capture, I adore the facade:)
Happy Sunday yo you!

JTG (Misalyn) said...

terrific capture....para rin akong nakatingin pataas :) ganda ng anggulo.

VP said...

A beautiful facade, perfectly restored. I am intrigued by the curious shape of the street lights...

Francisca said...

Hilda, this is one of the best shots I've seen of the Binondo Church! Fab!

Anonymous said...

Interesting architecture. It's always interesting to pick up historic tidbits from your posts, of a country I know very little about.

Birdman said...

This is an amazing piece of architecture.

Louis la Vache said...

«Louis» is happy to read that this church survived WWII. The destruction of the Philippines in that horrible conflagration was breathtaking.

Halcyon said...

This is a gorgeous old church. I am glad it survived. It's amazing how they built structures like this back then without modern engineering, etc.

Cezar and Léia said...

I LOVE the angle in this shot, the facade is fantastic, really adorable!
Happy Sunday
Léia

Jack said...

Very pretty. I can never figure out when to move the angle of my camera like this. Nice shot.

Unknown said...

Great perspective, Hilda! Glad they restored everything here.

George said...

It looks like they did a wonderful job with the restoration. The facade is absolutely beautiful.

Joy said...

Does this mean they were not able to preserve the original design - texture, character - of the church?

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Lowell said...

Another of your beautifully-composed and most interesting photographs. The stone reminds me of Florida with that mildewed look!

Valladolid Daily Photo said...

I love it. Great catch!

Anonymous said...

suddenly, i miss binondo! =)