#intramuros

Dead Conqustador wifefie

I took this photo of my wife looking at the 1973 tomb of Spanish conquistador and first Governor General of the Philippines Miguel López de Legazpi (1502-1572) with effigy supposedly by the Spanish artist Joaquín Rubio Camín (1929-2007) at the left side of the altar of the Santuario Arquidiocesano de Nuestra Señora de la Consolación y Correa (Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation and Cincture), aka the San Agustín Church, in the walled city of Intramuros, City of Manila.

The tomb of Legazpi was buried in the original San Agustín Church right after his passing in 1572. However, his current tomb is actually empty as his remains were desecrated and thrown away by the British, when then invaded Manila and Cavite in 1762–1764, during the Seven Year’s War.

The effigy and tomb were created when Manileño National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil (1899-1986) was renovating the San Agustín Convent to convert it into the San Agustín Convent Museum. According to some sources, the Government of Spain commissioned the Spanish artist Joaquín Rubio Camín (1929-2007) to create the effigy of Legazpi, however I am a bit doubtful, as the sculpture is not in the regular modernist style of Camín.

Fountainous familyfie

I took this photo of my wife and daughter posing in front of the fountain in the 1973-1978 "Jardín de la Paz" inner cloister garden within the San Agustín Convent Museum by Manileño National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil (1899-1986) at the 1586-1607 Santuario Arquidiocesano de Nuestra Señora de la Consolación y Correa (aka the San Agustín Church) compound in the walled city of Intramuros in the City of Manila

The San Agustín Church Convent was first built in 1587, in the walled city of Intramuros, in Manila. From 1973-1978 the old Augustinian cloister was converted into the San Agustín Church Museum by the National Artist for Architecture, Juan Nakpil (1899-1986).

The museum is a showcase of the artifacts collected by the Augustinian order, ever since their arrival in the Philippines in 1565 expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi (1502-1572). Led by Fr. Andrés de Urdaneta (1508-1568), the other four missionaries were Martín de Rada (1533-1578), Diego de Herrera (1525- 1576), Pedro de Gamboa and Andrés de Aguirre (died 1568); who would go to establish the Provincia Agustiniana del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús de Filipinas (Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines) by 1575.

Architect’s Biography:

Arch. Juan Felipe Nakpil (1899-1986) was the son, of the musician and composer, Julio Garcia Nakpil 1867-1960) and Gregoria Álvarez de Jesús (1875-1943); who were known for their efforts during the Philippine Revolution (1896-1898). He initially took up engineering at the University of the Philippines, then he later studied architecture at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts, in France. After working for several architectural firms, Nakpil eventually opened his own architectural firm in 1930. Nakpil's most noted works are San Carlos Seminary, Iglesia ni Cristo Riverside Locale (Now F. Manalo, San Juan), Capitol Theater, Captain Pepe Building, Manila Jockey Club, Rufino Building, Philippine Village Hotel, the Quezon Hall and Gonzales Halls of the U.P., and the Rizal Shrine in Calamba, Laguna. Nakpil was given the honor of National Artist for Architecture in 1973.

I wasn't able to attend the UPLB Commencement Exercises on July 4th because we were on a tight schedule. The program was estimated to end at 10:00 p.m., and we couldn't risk arriving late at the airport for our 3:00 a.m. flight. What we did instead was go to Parañaque to enjoy the hotel stay gifted to me by a mentor and colleague.

We also did a quick tour of Intramuros and the Museum of Natural History, which were the only places I could think my mother and siblings might find interesting.

We didn't have enough time to go to all three museums. Even if I still had the stamina, they were already complaining about the walk and the heat and the pollution. Can you imagine their faces when they were on the LRT?

Saintly daughterfie

I took this photo of my daughter looking at the exhibition of the Hall of Saints, displaying 17th to 19th century carved wooden santos, at the 2019 Museo de Intramuros, in the walled city of Intramuros, City of Manila.

The site and design of the Museo de Intramuros was based on the 1877 Parròquia de San Ignacio by Spanish-Manileño Arch. Félix Arroyo Roxas (1820-1890), Manileño artist Isabelo L. Tampinco (1850-1933), and the Spanish artist Agustín Sáez y Glanadell (1828-1891). The church was dedicated to the Spanish Jesuit founded Íñigo López de Oñaz de Loyola (1491-1556), of which an earlier 1632 church was also dedicated.

At the end of World War II, the Parròquia de San Ignacio was completely destroyed during the 1945 Battle of Manila, along with six of the seven great church of Intramuros. Only the San Agustín Church remained unscathed and the Catedral Metropolitana de Manila-Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción (Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception) was rebuilt in 1958. So the Parròquia de San Ignacio lay in ruins for decades, until the Intramuros Administration began reconstructing a semblance of the Parròquia de San Ignacio in 2015. And in 2019, the Department of Tourism opened the Museo de Intramuros in the replica of the Convento de Parròquia de San Ignacio (Convent of the Parish of Saint Ignatius), and in 2024 the convent and church was opened as the Centro de Turismo Intramuros.

In the Hall of Saints are carved wooden images of saints, taken from Spanish era (1565-1898) churches from all over the Philippines that were probably destroyed over the centuries. Aside from several unidentified saints, on display are the images of Santa Lucía (early Christian martyr Lucía of Syracuse, 283-304 AD), 18th century San Agustín (Roman/Berber Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, 354-430 AD) from the Visayas, Spanish Augustinian Santo Tomás García y Martínez de Villanueva (1488-1555), the Algerian-Roman Santa Mŏnĭca (332-387 AD, who is the mother of the Algerian-Roman saint Saint Augustine); the Italian Santa Rita de Cascia (Margherita Ferri Lotti; 1381-1457), 18th and 19th century statues of the Franciscan Portuguese San Antonio de Padua (born Fernando Martins de Bulhões, 1195-1231), two 18th and 19th century images of the Italian San Francisco de Assisi (born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, 1181-1226), the Spanish Franciscan San Diego de Alcalá (1400-1463), an 18th century image of Santa Isabel de Hungría (Saint Elizabeth / Erzsébet of Hungary, 1207-1231) from Laguna, 17th century icon of the Spanish San Fernándo Rey (Saint Ferdinand III; king of Castile, Galicia, and León; 1199-1252) from Pampanga, two 17th and 18th century images of the Spanish Jesuit saint San Farncisco Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; 1506-1552), 18th century image of San Jacinto de Polonia (Saint Hyacinth / Jacek of Poland, 1185-1257), two 18th and 19th century images of the Spanish Dominican founder San Domingo Félix de Guzmán (1170-1221), and the Italian Dominican Santo Tomás de Aquino (Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274).

Magic Mirror familyfie

My daughter is watching me take a photo of my wife looking at a 19th century mirror, at the 2019 Museo de Intramuros, in the walled city of Intramuros, City of Manila.

The site and design of the Museo de Intramuros was based on the 1877 Parròquia de San Ignacio by Spanish-Manileño Arch. Félix Arroyo Roxas (1820-1890), Manileño artist Isabelo L. Tampinco (1850-1933), and the Spanish artist Agustín Sáez y Glanadell (1828-1891). The church was dedicated to the Spanish Jesuit founder Íñigo López de Oñaz de Loyola (1491-1556), of which an earlier 1632 church was also dedicated.

At the end of World War II, the Parròquia de San Ignacio was completely destroyed during the 1945 Battle of Manila, along with six of the seven great churches of Intramuros. Only the San Agustín Church remained unscathed and the Catedral Metropolitana de Manila-Basílica de la Inmaculada Concepción (Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception) was rebuilt in 1958. So the Parròquia de San Ignacio lay in ruins for decades, until the Intramuros Administration began reconstructing a semblance of the Parròquia de San Ignacio in 2015. And in 2019, the Department of Tourism opened the Museo de Intramuros in the replica of the Convento de Parròquia de San Ignacio (Convent of the Parish of Saint Ignatius), and in 2024 the convent and church was opened as the Centro de Turismo Intramuros.

FLOW STATE est le projet que j'ai imaginé dans le cadre du Creative Call « UNICA-MENTE | Back to the 80's », organisé par Technogym en collaboration avec le magazine Intramuros.

À l'occasion des 40 ans d'Unica, j'ai conçu un parcours immersif où architecture intérieure, design, lumière, acoustique, matériaux et biophilie accompagnent progressivement l'utilisateur, de l'activation physique à la récupération et au bien-être mental.