Paoay Church of Ilocos Norte
The northern province of Ilocos Norte boasts one of the most stunning, and popular churches in the country – The Paoay Church.
Otherwise known as St. Augustine Church, this church of the municipality of Paoay was built from 1704 to 1894. Inspired by gothic, baroque and oriental architecture, it represented the Spanish, Filipino and Chinese influences that are unique to the Philippines. The Spanish friar-builders were no architects by any means and they only had to rely on memories when constructing the church. So they reinterpreted the European baroque into what is decidedly Filipino in spirit.
Built to withstand earthquakes common to the north, the walls are more than 3 feet thick, and all made of coral blocks, tree sap, stucco-plastered 
bricks and lumber. Unlike other belltowers in churches around the country, the Paoay Church bell tower is detached. The tower served as a lookout for the Katipuneros during the 1896 revolution, and again by the Filipinos in WWII.
There 24 massive buttresses jutting on the sides of the church. You can barely see it from the photo, but those mosaic pattern on the buttresses are corals glued with sap.
The church has twice been partially destroyed by earthquakes, and you begin to see it’s crumbling state when you walk in. There are now columns permanently set up to support the ceiling. An elderly patron used to recall that the church ceiling was painted blue, with white clouds that made you feel you were going to heaven.
The Paoay Church was declared a national treasure by President Marcos in order to preserve its state. It is now included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
4 Comments
Thanks for sharing the pictures. good night Sigrun
thanks for sharing.
this is helpful in my civics class.
[...] travels across the Philippines such as in the Tubbataha Reef, the Malacanang Palace of the North, Paoay Church, Ilocos Norte sand dunes, Intramuros and many [...]
The church is really beautiful, I also posted some photos of it in my blog. Nice shot by the way.