I had the chance to visit Intramuros on my last day in Manila. This is where it all started. Intramuros, which means "Within the walls" is the original Manila city, built by the Spanish 400 years ago. It was literally a walled city, where the Spanish ruled and lived, exclusively inside these walls. The locals were not allowed into the walled city then. Intramuros did not change very much throughout the 400 years until World War II, when most parts of Intramuros was massively destroyed when the Americans bombed the place flat, in order to get rid of the Japanese. However, some buildings survived while many were restored so that we would be able to catch a glimpse of how the Spanish lived during their ruling. Interesting thing is, this walled city is still very much in use today as most of Manila's City Council offices are situated in here.
The main entrance to the walled city
One of the fort bunkers
A bronze statue of Queen Katherine of Spain erected at the last gate ever built, leading into the city
A typical building facade inside Intramuros. Very Parisian, isn't it?
These are replica's of original building destroyed by the WWII bombs. The brown building used to be a Convent. It is now an art gallery cum museum.
Die!!!! Die!!!! Die!!!! Hehehehehe.... a wooden statue of Angel Gabriel banishing the devil, which was salvaged from the previous ruins.
Some artwork exhibit featuring local artists
An interesting mother of pearl curtain
A courtyard inside the building with a well right in the center.
A close up shot of the well's Fleur De Lis wrought iron crown details
One of the ornate doors of St. Augustine church. The only intact building after the WWII bombing. This building is more than 400 years old and was built with a typical Renaissance Period fashion.
Inside St. Augustine church. Notice the fresco's on the ceiling and walls. They are actually painted to look like plasterwork.
One of the newer buildings rebuilt to replicate the original ones. Cantik detailing dia.
And a grim reminder of what was destroyed.
Contrast between old and new
The dome of Manila Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Philippines. Roman Catholic is the main religion in the Philippines. Around 80% of Filipinos are Roman Catholics.
Main entrance to the Cathedral
This tower is the only original part of the Cathedral that is standing today. The rest of the Cathedral was rebuilt new after the building collapsed during a massive earthquake during the 1800's. This tower is also about 400 years old.
The Governor of Manila's office.
8 comments:
they do have a beautiful ancient building!.. must go one day nih.. selamat ke pi sorang2 ke sana?
Selamat ler... like any big city, kena aware of your surrounding jer lah. Tapikan, locals diorang cakap bagus lagi pi Cebu, Boracay atau pun Palawan sbb kat sana sema cantik, bersih and definitely safer. Good place for snappy opportunity.
wah cntiknyer..... sukakkk tgok buildings tu sume......
Owh great pics!, never been to Philipine,i oso mcm malim takut tak selamat huhu
btw i luv that naive paintings!!!
cantik!
renaissance! fantastic period!
Honeylemon: Memang cantek building diorang. Tapi I lebih suka pada period building diorang rather than the modern ones. Ada character katanye. So, bila plak nak pegi holiday? Hehehe
Wahdi: Tengkiu... ala kadar je gambo, tak vast cam snappy you ngan malim punya. Overall tempat tuh safe jugak. Mebbe next time I nak explore diorang punya outskirt provinces.
Oli: Isn't it fantastic? You should have been in there. The fresco was very detailed. I didn't even realised that it as painted until I looked very closely. The fresco is as old as the buildings too. They made paint out of eggs, interesting hor?
this coming august nk g jakarta n bandung...
u da pegi ker?? citer la ckit... :)
Honeylemon: Wah... I takpenah gi sana lagi. Tapi dengak kata kat bandung tuh shopping baju best. Banyak outlet branded kat sana jugak.
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