Inappropriate

I have featured many of the beautiful buildings and ruins of the historic walled city of Intramuros, which used to be the city of Manila during the Spanish colonial period. Now let me show you the most glaringly out-of-place structure in the district. Called the Clamshell, it is a huge airconditioned tent used for commercial and tourism exhibitions and trade fairs. It stands on the corner of Santa Lucia and Anda streets, which used to be the location of the Ateneo de Manila University when it was still in Intramuros. To come upon this tacky structure, especially when it's screaming with promotional banners and streamers, after seeing the elegant Spanish architecture of the rest of Intramuros, is jarring, to say the least. I really hope that the Intramuros Administration and our Department of Tourism decide to take it down in the very near future.

First five

The Spanish conquistadores who conquered the Philippines in the 16th century arrived with Catholic missionaries and through three hundred years of colonial rule firmly established the Philippines as the only predominantly Roman Catholic country in Asia until the independence of East Timor in 2002. This group of badly damaged and neglected sculptures in front of the ruins of the San Ignacio Church in Intramuros represents the first five Catholic religious orders that arrived in the country. The sign posts are decorated with each order's symbols but the plaques describing them are long gone. When the Intramuros Administration rebuilds the San Ignacio into a museum, I hope they also rebuild the statues and the plaques.



1. Augustinians
Fray Andres de Urdaneta and four other Augustinians landed in the province of Cebu on April 27, 1565 after sailing to the Philippines from Mexico with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi himself. The first Augustinian mission house in Manila was established in 1571. Source: Augnet



2. Franciscans
The Ordo Fratrum Minorum (OFM), the First Order of Franciscans, Friars Minor, arrived in Manila on July 2, 1578. Source: OFM Archives Philippines



3. Jesuits
First arrived in 1581, expelled in 1768 as a result of the suppression of the Jesuits in Europe in 1767, and returned to Manila in 1859. Source: Ateneo de Manila University



4. Dominicans
The first fifteen missionaries of the Dominican Order, also known as the Order of Preachers (OP), arrived from Spain by way of Mexico on July 21, 1587. Source: OP Holy Rosary Province



5. Recollects
The volunteers of the Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR), also known as Discalced Augustinians because of their practice of walking barefoot and who follow a more austere and ascetic lifestyle than their other Augustinian brethren, boarded a ship in Cadiz, Spain in July 1605 and arrived in the province of Cebu in May 1606. By 1608, they had a priory in the walled city of Intramuros. Source: Recoletos Communications

Horse-drawn

To complete the effect of being in mid-19th century Manila, the procession in Intramuros from the Manila Cathedral to the San Ignacio Church ruins included two types of vehicles in use at the time. The carruaje (carriage, pronounced kar-wah-heh) were used mostly by the upper classes. Our young 'European lady' took a ride around the cathedral while the mass was going on. During the procession, two carruajes transported the cardinal, the head of the Philippine Jesuits and the president of the Ateneo de Manila University.



The tranvia (tram) was used as public transportation by the middle and working classes. The tram was also horse-drawn and could sit about a dozen people. Unfortunately (or fortunately—the poor horses!), the Intramuros Administration doesn't have any of those anymore and this modern version is motorized and can sit much more than twelve. It transported our school officials, some of whom looked like little kids when they were boarding, grinning from ear to ear.

The way to the palace

Postigo del Palacio (postern of the palace) was one of the main entrances into the walled city of Intramuros during the Spanish colonial era. It was built in 1662 and took its name from the fact that it was the way closest to the palaces of the Governor-General and the Archbishop. This was the path that Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal took when he walked from his prison cell inside Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan (Luneta or Rizal Park), where he was executed in 1896. It was damaged during the Battle of Manila in 1945 and restored in 1968. The gate is usually closed nowadays but if it were open, it would just lead to the Club Intramuros Golf Course, an 18-hole golf course built around the beautiful and historic stone walls of the old city.

Urban or rural, natural or man-made, take a sightseeing tour of our world's diverse scenery!

A new old door

Our East Gwillimbury tour guide asked in my CDP theme day post why the Manila Cathedral had been built so many times since the 16th century. The answer is simple: fires, when Manila's structures were made mostly of wood and bamboo, and earthquakes, when stone was finally used. Then of course, there was the Battle of Manila during WWII when almost the entire city was razed to the ground. The war especially is the reason why, despite the age of the city, we have very few old buildings and those that look old are usually just reconstructions. However, even in the old walled city of Intramuros, only buildings with historical significance were reconstructed. Intramuros used to be the City of Manila but is now just one of its districts. It is a commercial zone and therefore has many office buildings. It has a law which I love though: any new structure built there has to follow the architecture of the Spanish colonial era. This office building is probably very modern inside but it doesn't look out of place beside the Manila Cathedral or the San Agustin Church.

#FF8C00

The rooms of The Bayleaf Intramuros are as modern as their lobby (see yesterday's post). Except for the suites, they are all decorated in black and white, and one of three unique colors.
  Ours was very, very orange.

The two other colors are lime green and aubergine. Which would you prefer?

On the wall

The Spanish era walls of Intramuros are wide enough in certain areas to accommodate a simple stage for public cultural presentations organized by the Intramuros Administration.

A Spaniard in a Roman plaza in Manila

In front of the Manila Cathedral is a small park with a fountain and a bronze statue. During the Spanish colonial period, the open space was called the Plaza Mayor and was the site of bull fights and other public events. In 1797, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines Rafael Maria de Aguilar y Ponce de Leon turned it into a garden. The bronze statue of Carlos IV, king of Spain from 1788 to 1808, was installed in 1824 as a tribute for his sending the first smallpox vaccine to the Philippines. During the American period, the park was named Plaza McKinley after William McKinley, who was then the president of the United States. Since 1960, it has been called Plaza Roma because of a reciprocal agreement between the Philippine government and the Vatican (there's supposed to be a Piazza Manila somewhere in Rome).



The Intramuros Administration says that they refurbished the park in 1980. I think it's about time that they reconditioned the bronze statue again.

Blue day

Last December, I mentioned that the Ateneo de Manila University will be celebrating its sesquicentennial, its 150th anniversary, on December 10, 2009. Yesterday was the grand kick-off celebration for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Since the Ateneo is a Roman Catholic university, it was but fitting that the day began with a mass. And since Intramuros was where it all began in 1859, the mass was held at the Manila Cathedral. It was concelebrated by about fifty Jesuit priests (I didn't get an exact count) and the main celebrant was Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, the Archbishop of Manila. The mass was at 7:00 a.m. but we were there at 6:00 a.m. to greet and welcome all who were attending.



I posted a photo of the ruins of the Jesuit San Ignacio Church last week and wrote that the Intramuros Administration would be building an ecclesiastical museum on the site and that the groundbreaking ceremony would be held on the day that the returning Jesuits set foot in Manila in 1859. That was yesterday too. After the mass at the Manila Cathedral, there was a procession to the ruins a few blocks away. The land was blessed anew by Cardinal Rosales and four Jesuits, the Pangkat Kawayan bamboo orchestra performed for the crowd, and breakfast was served on the old walls of the city fortress.



After breakfast, the motorcade began. It stopped at all the past and present campuses of the Ateneo de Manila University. When the Intramuros campus of the school was destroyed by a big fire in 1932, it was relocated to Ermita, Manila along Padre Faura Street. Since the school again transferred to Quezon City in the 1950s, the lot was sold to the Gokongwei family which owns a chain of malls and department stores in the Philippines. So, yes, the first stop was at a mall: Robinsons Place Manila. There was a simple ceremony to unveil a brass marker beside the mall's Padre Faura entrance. On the marker was etched an image of the old school building and an explanation of the school's history in that location. What made the ceremony memorable was the presence of about two dozen alumni who studied in the Padre Faura campus. They even sang one of their favorite Ateneo cheers after the unveiling of the marker.



Unfortunately, I missed the rest of the motorcade because of my assigned tasks for the day. In fact, I missed all the ceremonies yesterday except the one at Padre Faura. I was at the Manila Cathedral, but wasn't able to attend the mass. I saw the procession begin, but wasn't able to join it. I walked to the San Ignacio ruins, but only to immediately get in a car to go to Padre Faura, so I missed the performance and the breakfast. Yesterday was work for me and for everyone in our office, after all. But once it 's produced, we can all watch the video of yesterday's events and be proud of the fact that everything came to be because of us.

Historical tour

The tram-bus used for tours in the historic walled city of Intramuros recalls the days when the city had a tranvia system. During the Spanish era, the street railway cars were horse drawn and operated by the Madrid-based Compañía de los Tranvías de Filipinas. Then in 1905, during the American era, it was turned into an electric street tramway system operated by the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company. This tram-bus was parked inside the Puerta de Santa Lucia (gate of Saint Lucy), one of the original entrances to the walled city. Built in 1603, the gate was destroyed during the Battle of Manila in 1945 and restored only in 1982. Reflected in the rear window is one of many new buildings in Intramuros built using Spanish architectural designs popular in Manila during the 18th and 19th centuries.

See what's reflecting what at James' Weekend Reflections.

Within the walls

The historic district of Intramuros in the City of Manila was built by the Spaniards in the 16th century. At the time, Intramuros was considered the city of Manila itself. Its name is Latin for "within the walls" and is an accurate description of the city fortress, surrounded by moats and thick, high walls. This is the moat just outside Fort Santiago, one of the oldest fortifications in Manila. It was built for the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi in 1571 at the north-western end of the city where the Pasig River joins Manila Bay. Over the walls, you can see some of the facilities of Manila's North Harbor.

Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.

Like the phoenix

This is all that remains of the San Ignacio Church in Intramuros, the sueño dorado (golden dream) of the Spanish Jesuits when they returned to Manila in 1859 after an absence of almost one hundred years. Inaugurated in 1889, the church survived the battles during the Spanish-American war period and a big fire in 1932 that destroyed the adjoining school building of the Ateneo de Manila. In February 1945, the Japanese put the church to the torch and because all the interior details and furniture were made of hardwoods, it took four days for the fire to consume everything. The church is lost forever, but back in September 2008, the Intramuros Administration announced its plans to build an ecclesiastical museum amid the ruins of the San Ignacio. With the assistance of the Department of Tourism and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the project is finally pushing through. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new museum will be next Sunday, June 14—the same day that the returning Jesuits disembarked from their ship one hundred and fifty years ago.

Green

The Club Intramuros Golf Course is located just outside the Spanish colonial era 16th century walls of Intramuros, which are barely peeking between the trees to the right of the golfer. The green and white building towering over the course is the 1977 expansion of the Manila Hotel, which first opened its doors in 1912.

The palace of the governor

The Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros is a 1978 reconstruction of the 17th century Spanish Governor-General's residence and office. The original building collapsed in the devastating June 3, 1863 Manila earthquake and was abandoned when the Governor-General moved to Malacañang Palace. Currently, the Palacio del Gobernador houses some government offices and is the home of the Intramuros Administration.

Corridor café

Barbara's Café in the old walled city of Intramuros is located in one of the wide passageways that lead from the street to the inner courtyard of the Plaza San Luis complex. Called a zaguan, it was the corridor where carruajes (horse-drawn carriages) would pass through to drop their passengers off by the entrance. The floor is paved with granite, what was and still is called piedra china (Chinese stone) because they were originally used by Chinese traders as ballast in their junks. The chairs and tables at Barbara's Café are what we call batibot chairs and tables. Batibot means 'small but strong and sturdy.' The wooden seats and tabletop are wrapped in sheet iron, and the legs and seat backs are made of bent iron rods; even the studs and rivets are made of solid iron.

The governor's gate

This small doorway through the thick walls of Intramuros is called the Puerta Postigo del Gobernador because it was near the Spanish Governor-General's palace. This is the door that Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal walked through when he was brought by Spanish soldiers from his jail in Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan where he was executed by firing squad in 1896. The little room where the guards of this doorway stayed was also where the young Manuel L. Quezon, who much later became the President of the Philippine Commonwealth, was incarcerated after he surrendered to the Americans in 1902.

Old guard

The security guards in the historic walled city of Intramuros are dressed in uniforms patterned after those worn by the Guardia Civil during the Spanish colonial era.



I have one question though: did they have rubber boots back then?

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It's that time of the month for me to bug CDP bloggers again! Our theme for April 1 is Red and the May theme day poll is up—don't forget to vote!

Taking a break

I'm not quite sure what he's selling (onions?), but it cannot be easy in Manila's hot and polluted streets.

Taken from the comfort of an airconditioned car just outside the historic walls of Intramuros and the Club Intramuros Golf Course. Sigh.

Manila skyline

This view of the City of Manila is exactly like the night shot I posted on August 26, taken during the next (very overcast) morning. Aside from the two creamy yellow neoclassical buildings of the National Museum of the Philippines, one can see the water hazards of the Club Intramuros Golf Course, and parts of the 16th century walls of Intramuros on the lower right.

2.4 meters

Fort Santiago in Intramuros was established by the Spanish conquistadores in 1571 but the original fort was made out of wood. The stone walls were erected only between 1589–1592. The walls are 2.4 meters (8 feet) thick and 6.7 meters (22 feet) high. The main entrance, which stands behind the moat I posted last month, is 12 meters (40 feet) high. The large coat of arms just above the arch is the Pillars of Hercules version of the abbreviated coat of arms of the Spanish monarchy at the time. (Comparing it to the illustrations in the Wikipedia entry, I think the sculptor made some errors though.) Philip II was king of Spain at the time of the conquest, which is why the islands were called Las Islas Filipinas.