I was in San Augustin Church last month to accompany balikbayan (Filipinos who live abroad) friends. My friends who live in London were here for 2 weeks to attend a relative's wedding. This church is one of the most popular wedding churches in Manila. In fact, my best-friend wanted to get married here almost a decade ago, but they were fully booked for over a year when we inquired.
Originally known as "Iglesia de San Pablo", San Agustin Church was founded by the Augustinians in 1571, built in 1589 and completed in 1607. It is the oldest stone church in the Philippines, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the Baroque Churches in the Philippines in 1993.
During the Seven Years' War in 1762, San Agustin Church was looted by the British forces who occupied Manila. It was renovated in 1854. The church was also the site where the Spanish Governor prepared the terms of the surrender of Manila to the United States of America in 1898.
In World War II, the Japanese turned San Agustin Church into a concentration camp for prisoners. Hundreds of Intramuros residents and priests died here during the final days of the war. Among the seven churches in the walled city, San Agustin Church was the only building left intact after the destruction of Intramuros during the Battle of Manila (1945). The present structure is actually the third to stand on the site and has survived 7 major earthquakes.
San Agustin Church has 14 side chapels and a magnificent trompe l'oeil mural on its ceiling and walls. Trompe l'oeil is French for fools the eye, an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create an optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions. The nave art was painted by two Italian scenographers Giovanni Dibella and Cesare Alberoni in 1875--scenegraphers are artists who paint backdrops for operas.
It was practiced in the last centuries for prominent persons to be buried inside this church---the painter Juan Luna, Spanish Governors, statesmen and archbishops. El Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, founder of the city of Manila who died in 1572 was entombed in one of the chapels while wealthy patrons of the church paid for their final resting place here.
San Agustin Church
General Luna Street
Intramuros, Manila
