Baroque Churches of the Philippines
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How it came to be
Four Catholic churches built during Spanish rule in the Philippines make up this site: San Agustin in Intramuros, Manila; Santa Maria and Paoay in northern Luzon; and Miagao in Iloilo, in the Visayas.
San Agustin was founded in 1571, right after the Spanish conquest of Manila, on land given to the Augustinians, and in 1587 its wood-and-palm building was replaced by a stone church and monastery. Against pirates, raiders and earthquakes, the churches were built squat and massive, with thick walls and heavy buttresses. At Paoay, fourteen buttresses in the shape of giant scrolls brace the walls.
Chinese and Filipino craftsmen reworked European Baroque with local materials and motifs. On the facade at Miagao, St Christopher, dressed in local clothes, carries the Christ Child on his back and holds on to a coconut palm. The four churches were inscribed in 1993.
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