Coral

One last post about our trip to Bantayan Island (see previous two posts)—the Saints Peter and Paul Parish Church, better known simply as Bantayan Church.
  The church had already closed for the night when we went to visit, but the caretaker graciously opened it for us when he found out that we had a priest in our group. The parish traces its history back to 11 June 1580 when the Spanish Agustinians established it. The first church was destroyed when the town was attacked by Muslim pirates in 1600. It was rebuilt in the same year but was transferred to the management of secular priests. The current church was constructed in 1839–1863. Unfortunately, the plaque on the wall didn't say what happened to the previous building. 
  The church's design is typical of other Spanish-era churches in the country. A portion of the roof was damaged by Typhoon Haiyan, but it had been repaired completely by the time we visited. 
  What makes Bantayan Church unique is the fact that it is made almost entirely of coral. Moss grows easily on them, but I think they just add beauty and interest to the walls.
  And those walls are thick! I measured myself against the depth of a doorway, and I think the walls are easily six feet deep.

Postcards from Cambodia: Angkor Wat

One of the few things I was willing to wake up at an ungodly hour for was to watch the sun rise over Cambodia's greatest treasure: Angkor Wat, the City of Temples. 
  First a Hindu then a Buddhist temple complex, Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II.  
  It is the largest religious monument in the world and its perfect symmetry is a wonder to behold.
  The main temple of Angkor Wat is composed of three rectangular galleries, each higher than the next.
  Every inch of the walls of each gallery is covered in elaborate bas-relief scenes from Hindu mythology and literature.
  Angkor Wat's Temple Mountain, its central and uppermost sanctuary, is an architectural representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods in Hindu mythology.
  From the uppermost terrace, one can see across the lower galleries to the bridge which crosses the moat around Angkor Wat, and all the way to the outer wall.
  The image of Buddha in the uppermost sanctuary depicts him seated on the coils of a Naga. Legend says that Buddha was so deep in meditation, he did not notice the storm that began raging around him. So the Naga coiled itself under Buddha to raise him from the muddy waters and bent its seven heads (one of which is broken here) over him to protect him from the rain. Of all the temples in the Angkor district of Siem Reap, only Angkor Wat was never abandoned and it is still an active Buddhist temple today.

Postcards from Cambodia: Angkor Thom

The Buddhist Bayon Temple was built in the late 12th or early 13th century and stands in the middle of Angkor Thom, the capital of the empire of King Jayavarman VII.
  Its most distinctive feature is its multitude of towers, each bearing a serenely smiling face on each of its four sides.
  The gigantic faces bear a striking resemblance to the statues of King Jayavarman VII, which have led some scholars to believe that they are images of the king himself. Others believe that they are representations of the bodhisattva of compassion.
  Older temples in Angkor Thom survive. The three-tiered Baphuon Temple, built in the mid-11th century, was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.
  The 10th century Phimeanakas Temple is located within the walls of the royal palace. It is associated with a very interesting legend which involves the king and a Naga, a mythological creature in the form of a snake which, in Cambodia, has seven heads.
  Angkor Thom's kings had a long stone terrace which they used for public ceremonies and audiences. It is now known as the Terrace of the Elephants because of the parade of elephants decorating the surviving portions.

Postcards from Cambodia: Banteay Srei

The 10th century Banteay Srei, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, is distinctive among Angkor's many temples because of the miniature scale of its buildings.

It was constructed using a hard red sandstone which can be carved like wood. Despite being more than a thousand years old, the temple retains much of its intricate decorative carvings.

Postcards from Cambodia: Ta Prohm

Back in November 2013, my husband and I spent five days in Siem Reap, Cambodia with a couple of friends. We got home to news of a large typhoon forming over the Pacific whose projected path would take it directly over the Philippines. I used my spare hours tracking it and didn't bother with my blog—only for a few days, I thought. It took me several months after Typhoon Haiyan to start blogging again. So, half a year late, I will be featuring photos of our "Temple Run" for the next few days.
  Ta Prohm is one of the hundreds of temples found in the Angkor area of Siem Reap. It was built as a monastery and university in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and, unlike other Angkor temples, is kept in pretty much the same condition as it was found.
  Except for one particular temple, Angkor was abandoned in the 15th century, and the temples neglected for centuries. The jungle reclaimed the land and, now, Ta Prohm is best known for the trees (mostly kapok and banyan) growing out of the ruins. (It is also known as the temple in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie.) A few carvings in the temple stones survived centuries of exposure to the elements.

Some of the trees growing out of Ta Prohm are huge. The exposed roots of this one need propping up so the ruins don't collapse further.
  A look back as we were leaving revealed the entirety of the highest tree growing out of the temple.

Commonwealth

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not Guilty'."

~Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

This is a view of Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, looking north, from the rooftop of a medium-rise condominium. The white, spiky building in the center is one of the bigger churches of the Iglesia ni Cristo, the third largest religious denomination in the Philippines. The bulky yellow building to the right is the Sandiganbayan, a special judicial court which has jurisdiction over graft and corruption cases against government employees and officials. I hear their backlog of pending cases is tremendous, and that it takes five years or more for them to try and decide a case.

Pointing to the heavens

"A real building is one on which the eye can light and stay lit."

~Ezra Pound (1885–1972), American poet

Just as its doors surprised me for their lack of religious iconography (see previous two posts), the exterior of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat also surprised me for its lack of a cross. I wouldn't have known this was a church if it weren't for our guide, but its lovely neo-Gothic architecture would have caught my eye nevertheless. I especially love the arched rooftop patio.

Psychedelic

"Love was a feeling completely bound up with color, like thousands of rainbows superimposed one on top of the other."

~Paulo Coelho, Brazilian novelist

The interior side of the bronze doors of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat (see yesterday's post) are made of panels of stained glass which glow brightly during the day. They kind of look messy and incomplete without the bronze, though. I would love to see the doors from outside at night when the lights of the church are on.

Secular

"Most of the time, doors remain closed simply because they have not been tried to be opened!"

~Mehmet Murat ildan, Turkish novelist and playwright

The bronze doors of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat (also known as the San Beda Chapel) in San Miguel, Manila surprised me for not having any religious iconography on them. I really like them, though, and I regret not asking who the artist was.

Benedictine diary

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary."

~Pablo Picasso

After eight years painting the interior of the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in San Miguel, Manila (see previous post), Dom Lesmes Lopez and Brother Salvador Alberich left the back wall blank. There may have been a reason for it, but whatever it was, contemporary Benedictine monks did not like "the ugly white wall." So they commissioned the Italian painter Francesco Giannini to create a mural for it, one showing the story of the Benedictines in the Philippines. Working from his hometown of Peschiera del Garda, Giannini spent one year drawing detailed drafts and another year for the actual painting. The mural was inaugurated and blessed in June of 2012.

Benedictine masterpiece

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."

~John Ruskin (1819–1900), English art critic

The Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat was built in 1925 to serve Manila's Benedictine monks. It is more popularly known as the San Beda Chapel because of the college which the monks operate on the same grounds. The Spanish monk-artist Dom Lesmes Lopez, assisted by Brother Salvador Alberich, spent eight years from 1931 to 1939 painting the chapel's vaulted ceiling and arched walls.

A rose and a lion

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."

~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Swiss American psychiatrist

In keeping with its neo-Gothic design, the San Sebastian Church (see previous two posts) has several beautiful rose windows. I'm not sure who the saint in the middle is, but if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it was Mark the Evangelist, who is sometimes depicted with a lion and whose symbol is a winged lion.

Ecclesiastical heraldry

"Homo sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to invest passion and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions."

~Joyce Carol Oates, American author

The trompe l'oeil ceiling over the entrance of the San Sebastian Church (see yesterday's post) includes some of the heraldic symbols of Catholic bishops: the miter (headdress) in the middle, the crosier (staff), and Patriarchal cross.

The chandelier is real.

Steel Neo-Gothic

"Negligence is the rust of the soul,

that corrodes through all her best resolves."

~Owen Feltham (1602–1668)

The Basilica Minore de San Sebastian, better known simply as San Sebastian Church, is believed to be the only pre-fabricated steel church in the world. Designed by the Spanish architect Genaro Palacios, it was built in 1891 using steel sections made in Belgium after earlier churches built on the site since 1611 by the Augustinian Recollects were destroyed by earthquakes in 1859, 1863 and 1880.

Though it may be earthquake and fireproof, the all-steel San Sebastian Church—which was designated a National Historical Landmark in 1973—suffers from another problem: rust. It is humid in Metro Manila no matter what the weather is and it rains almost half of the year. The City of Manila, where the church stands, is also very near the sea. After more than a hundred years in those conditions, the steel's integrity is threatened and the church is slowly undergoing restoration.

War in heaven

"Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back."

~Revelation 12:7

In the courtyard of San Miguel Church (see yesterday's post) stands this 12-foot cold cast bronze sculpture of Saint Michael slaying the dragon, which symbolizes the devil, created by Florante Caedo.

Proxy

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Church of San Miguel, in the district of the City of Manila with the same name, traces its history back to 1603. The current church, however, was only built in 1913. From 1946 to 1958, it became a pro-cathedral when it served as the seat of the Archdiocese of Manila after the Manila Cathedral—the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception—was destroyed during WWII. In 1986, the church was designated the National Shrine of St. Michael and the Archangels.

Rising from ashes

"Disasters work like alarm clocks to the world,

hence God allows them.

They are shouting, 'Wake up! Love! Pray!'"

~ Criss Jami, American poet and essayist

The Basilica de San Martin de Tours, located in the town of Taal in the province of Batangas, is the largest known Catholic church in Asia, standing 88.6 meters (291 feet) long and 48 meters (157 feet) wide. Designed by Spanish architect Luciano Oliver, construction of the church started in 1856 and finished in 1865.

The history of the Taal Basilica, as it is more popularly known, and of the town itself, is much older, however.

Taal was founded by Augustinian missionaries in 1572, in what is now the town of San Nicolas. The first church was built in 1575 by Padre Diego Espina. Then in 1754, the entire town was destroyed during one of Taal Volcano's largest eruptions. The town was then relocated to its present site and construction of a new church began in 1755. That church was destroyed by a strong earthquake in 1849, but the town survived, thankfully.

A special visitor from Portugal

On 14 October 2013, the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima visited the St. Stanislaus Kostka Chapel of the Ateneo de Manila High School for half a day. Sculpted by José Thedim and blessed by the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima in 1947, the statue was sent out to bring the Message of Fatima to the world.

Preparing the way

I've featured the 1896 St. John the Baptist Parish Church (better known locally as the Pinaglabanan Church) quite a few times, but mostly its exterior, which I love. I finally had an opportunity to take a photo of its interior from the main aisle. I confess that I'm not crazy about it since I've never been fond of dark wood, and all the wood in the church is dark, from the retablo (reredos) to the pews. I do like the stained glass windows flanking the crucifix, showing St. John the Baptist preaching, and baptizing Jesus.

The church's unique chevron-shaped and intricately-detailed stained glass window, which I posted back in 2010, is worth revisiting.

Getting ready

This is the closest I've gotten to the dome of the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, better known as the Manila Cathedral and the seat of the Archdiocese of Manila. It was taken from the roofdeck of The Manila Collectible Co., which can be rented for events (but I don't recommend it during dreary rainy days, like the day we were there). The Cathedral has been closed since February of last year for structural renovations, the most important of which is seismic retrofitting. The current cathedral is the eighth church to be built on the site, and at least four previous structures were destroyed or heavily damaged by earthquakes.