Architecture,  History,  Monday walks,  Philippines

Exploring within the walls

March 18, 2025 / 24 Comments

Much of Manila is modern, manic and frenetic. While there are sights to be explored these are scattered and separated by long drives in slow-moving traffic. But Intramuros is different.

The name means ‘within the walls’ or ‘inside the walls’, for this is the small historic walled area where the city began. Any settlement beyond its fortifications was considered to be extramuros, a separate town or community.

Today the area is preserved as a National Historical Landmark, and one of its most historic buildings, San Agustín Church, is listed by UNESCO under the entry Baroque Churches of the Philippines. Our explorations here were slightly impeded by a couple of very heavy showers, but we saw enough to give us a good flavour of the district and for me to share as a Monday Walk. The weather did mean, however, that I took very few photos out of doors.

Casa Manila

Many of the buildings in Intramuros were badly damaged or destroyed at the end of WW2, when the Americans battled to liberate Manila from Japanese occupation. The Japanese army retreated here and was heavily shelled by US troops. At the end of the battle only 5% of the buildings here were left standing, more than 16,665 Japanese were killed, and over 100,000 Filipino men, women and children died too.

Consequently the historical structures we visited here were all either reconstructions or complete rebuilds. An organisation known as Intramuros Administration controls the still-ongoing postwar reconstruction and revival of the district’s cultural heritage, ensuring strict adherence to an architectural code. One such rebuild is Casa Manila, a copy of an 1850s colonial house constructed in the 1980s. It serves as a museum depicting the lifestyle of an affluent Filipino family during the late Spanish colonial period. Its interior decor of the house demonstrates the typical tastes of the late 19th century where furniture and furnishings were sourced from Europe and China.

We toured the house with a guide who talked about how the rooms would have been used. On the lower floor we saw the despacho or office where the owner would conduct business. Up an impressive stairway there is a series of grand reception rooms where he and his family would receive guests (the caida or antesala and beyond that the sala). There were also bedrooms, including two for the children (the boys’ overlooking the street, the girls’ a more secluded courtyard) and the kitchen and servants’ areas. Photos were allowed throughout but not always easy to capture in sometimes cramped corners and with other visitors ‘spoiling’ the historic effect.

There are many more photos, and details about all the rooms, on the museum’s website: https://intramuros.gov.ph/cmm/

San Agustín

The church of San Agustín stands across the road from the Casa Manila. Although it was damaged during the Battle of Manila, it remained standing and is the only church in Intramuros to have done so. It was the third church to have been built on this site and was completed in 1607, making it the oldest stone church in the country.

The church has a museum of religious art but we skipped that having spent a long while at some other sites that afternoon. So I only have a couple of shots to share from here.

Manila Cathedral

The cathedral, properly known as the Minor Basilica and Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, was destroyed during the battle, so today’s is a 1950s reconstruction of the previous building dating from 1879. Not realising this at first, I was struck immediately by the contrast and vibrancy of the modern stained-glass windows, which I loved.

With the exception of the glass the current building is a close copy of the previous one I believe. And it is the eighth cathedral to stand here, each in turn adapting the style of the previous to fit the taste of the age in which it was built. Why so many iterations of the same building? One word: earthquakes. While it was war that destroyed cathedral number seven, and fire that destroyed the first, the others were all lost to earthquake damage.  

Fort Santiago

From the cathedral we walked the short distance to Fort Santiago which protected colonial Manila from attack via the Pasig River. Above its main gate is a relief carving of St James, Santiago, portrayed as the ‘Moor-slayer’ or Matamoros.

As we arrived there the heavens opened so we took shelter in a small room where a video played showing the history of the fort and of Intramuros. We saw how the fort and most of the surrounding area was bombarded by US forces during the Battle of Manila and how it had since been partially rebuilt. Many parts however still stand in ruins, including various storehouses and the former American Barracks which once held the Filipino president Elpidio Quirino prisoner.

Rizal Museum

One of the barracks has however been restored and today serves as a museum and shrine dedicated to José Rizal, one of the Philippines’ national heroes. I confess I knew nothing about him prior to visiting this museum, but here we learned how his writings had inspired the Filipino people to rebel against the Spanish colonial rule. He was imprisoned in this building and here was tried before a court-martial for rebellion, sedition and conspiracy, and convicted on all three charges. He was sentenced to death, a sentence which was carried out by a Filipino firing squad (with regular Spanish Army troops standing ready to shoot them if they should fail to carry out the execution).

The museum tells Rizla’s story through various artefacts such as letters, clothing, and even one of his vertebrae bearing the mark of a bullet. The room where he was held prisoner has been reconstructed as has the room of his trial.

Although we visited some other places in Manila, it is only in Intramuros that it is possible to walk easily between the sights like this, so it provides a suitable location for a Monday Walk.

I visited Manila in February 2025

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