behind me is the miagao church located in the town of miagao in iloilo
the church of saint tomas villanueva
of miagao parish in iloilo province is one of the four baroque churches of the philippines
inscribed by unesco as a world cultural heritage site in 1993
before miagao became a town in its own right in 1731 it was a visita of neighboring parishes
with no church or parish priests of its own the church was designed
as a fortress where the townsfolk can take refuge and repel moro marauders
before this church was built on a more secure location moro raiders from sultanates
in mindanao and sulu had pillaged and raised its predecessors in 1741 and 1754 because of
its vulnerability to raids the augustinians transferred the town up a hill called takas
from there a new church was constructed in 1787 under the supervision of fray francisco gonzalez
parish priest and spanish gobernadorcillo domingo libo-on undertaking this massive
construction project stretched the small town's resources to its limits to build the church
townsfolk were conscripted to render forced labor a form of taxation in kind of public works
at the time when the church and the state were one people who had means contributed money to trade
the wages of skilled artisans or commissioned the artwork installed within the church premises
building a fortress church to safeguard life on earth
was motivation enough to lighten the town's folk's burden
the facade of the miagao church consists of permanently decorated relief in the middle of
the two huge watch towers belfries on each side a mixed influence of medieval spanish chinese
muslim and local traditions and elements a unique characteristic of the facade
prominent part of it is a coconut tree depicted as the tree of life where saint christopher holds on
the saint is dressed in local and traditional clothing carrying the child jesus on his back
the rest of the facade features the daily life of the people of miagao
during the time including native flora like papaya coconut and palm tree
above the wooden door entrance at the center of the facade is a carved image of the town's patron
saint saint thomas of villanueva at each side of the door is the images of saint henry of bavaria
and pope pius vi above the image of the saints are their respective coat of arms
the two huge and unequal bell towers directly attached to the main church serve
as watchtowers to defend the town against invasion of moros it has two different designs
since it was commissioned by two different priests
on the left side is the older belfry the tallest west belfry with four levels on
the right side is the east belfry which was originally constructed with only two levels
it was in 1830 when father francisco perez decided to add another story to the east belfry
inside is a sanctuary of the church composed of an altar tabernacle retablo and shrines on both sides
the retablo is a gold-plated and consists of a crucifix in the center a statue of saint
joseph on the left stack of saint thomas on the right and the statue of the santo nino on top
the shrine on the left of the altar houses the sacred heart of
jesus while the shrine on the right of the altar houses the immaculate heart of mary
the church's overall architectural style falls under the baroque romanesque architecture
its ochre color is due to the materials used in constructing the church adobe egg coral and
limestone the structure was completed in 1797. stones were quarried from san joaquin and igboras
in 1864 friar agustin escudero restored the church in 1880 friar jose sacristan decorated
the interior of the church the church was severely damaged during the philippine revolution
in 1898 but was later rebuilt but early in the 20th century the church was burned during the
philippine american war the church was also used as headquarters and barracks during world war
ii where the interior of the church was greatly damaged by the war in the earthquake of 1948
in 1959 and in the 1970s the church was again restored as of today restoration
is still ongoing because of the concern of the soft yellow sandstone used in the church
that erodes easily aside from that the miagao church is truly an authentic filipino church
with its intricate traditional design and architecture so that's
it for the church until next time don't forget to hit like share and subscribe bye
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