The guard on a hill

The town of Bantay in Ilocos Sur is best known for its 1590 church and bell tower, which was also the site of a battle fought by the revolutionary Diego Silang and his men against the troops of the Spanish colonial government in 1763.
  Named St. Augustine Church, after the Augustinian friars who established the parish, the church is also the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity.
  The bell tower stands on top of a hill some distance away from the church.
  Tourists are allowed up the tower (using some scarily rickety stairs), where the guide will invariably point out that the historic bell was used in the filming of the popular local action fantasy movie Ang Panday (The Blacksmith). Unfortunately, I can no longer remember if he was referring to the 1980 film starring the late Fernando Poe Jr. or the 2009 and 2011 films starring Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr.
  According to an Ilokano friend, the word bantay means "hill" in their language. The word also exists in Tagalog, where it means "guard" or "to guard," which is also appropriate because the tower has commanding views of the town, the not-so-distant West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), and the distant Cordillera mountain range.

Religion and war

The Archbishop's Palace of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia, located in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, was constructed in 1783–1790. It also has a colorful history, having been occupied by revolutionists against Spain in 1896 and used as a garrison by American forces in 1899.

Stepping into history

Calle Crisologo is the best-preserved Spanish colonial era cobblestone street in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Most of the houses have been turned into shops, cafés and inns, but a few family residences—which still contain their original furniture and artwork—have been opened to the public as museums. Calle Crisologo is closed to cars but pedestrians still have to share the street with horse-drawn carriages.

Conversion

The Cathedral of the Conversion of St. Paul is located in the City of Vigan in the province of Ilocos Sur (more than 400 km north of Manila), and is the seat of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia. The church as it stands now was finished in the early 1800s, but its history goes back to 1574 when a chapel of wood and thatch was ordered built on the site by the Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo. Succeeding churches were damaged and destroyed by earthquakes in 1619 and 1627, and by fire in 1739. The church became a cathedral in 1758, when the seat of the Archdiocese was transferred to Vigan. It was occupied by revolutionists during the Philippine Revolution and by American forces during the Philippine-American War.

Philippine Baroque

From May 12 to 24, my husband and I went on a road trip through the Central Luzon and Ilocos Regions, stopping at cities and towns that we've never visited before. My Manila goes outside Metro Manila for the next few days. I hope you enjoy the trip.

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Leaving the province of La Union and continuing north, we enter the province of Ilocos Sur. Our first stop was the town of Santa Maria, about 355 road kilometers away from Manila, to visit the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion, one of the four Baroque Churches of the Philippines inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993. We arrived at noon, only to discover that the church is closed everyday from 11:30am to 2:00pm. So unfortunately, we did not get to see or take photos of the interiors. The church dates back to 1769 and the separate bell tower to 1810.


Amazingly, the church's buttresses are almost completely intact, surviving the three events (the 1892 earthquake, the 1898 Philippine Revolution, and the end of World War II in 1945) that damaged or destroyed most of the churches and other Spanish-era buildings in the region.


I'm not crazy about the plaster relief of Our Lady of the Ascension added to a wall beside one of the side entrances, but it does identify the patroness of the church, aside from breaking the monotony of the brick.


I was intrigued by the brick outline of a window and a door on one wall which was constructed of stone rather than brick.


The original rectory at the back of the church is still in use by a priest who obviously likes gardening. Isn't it so charming?


The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion stands on a hill surrounded by a defensive wall. Pedestrians have to climb these steps from the street but there is a narrow, winding road at the rear for those who have vehicles.


Another set of stairs leads down to an overgrown path which passes through a tunnel of trees. I would dearly love to know where that path leads—it looks like a lovely walk (but not in the middle of the day).  LUZON ROAD TRIP SERIES #6