Daily Archives: 25 October, 2010

The Kamistisuhan Houses of Malolos City (Bulacan)

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From the basilica, we made a walking tour of the city’s Kamistisuhan Houses which are mostly located along Pariancillo St. These houses, built by landed Filipino-Chinese families, typify the intricate architectural design of Spanish buildings.  When Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo moved the seat of government to Malolos, he established the various cabinet offices at these houses. Some of these houses are still inhabited by the descendants of the original owners and in a good state of preservation.  Others have been demolished or have been converted to commercial establishments.

The beautifully restored Adriano-Vasquez Mansion, a perfect example of adaptive reuse, once housed Aguinaldo’s Gobierno Militar de la Plaza.  Now the Meralco Bldg. (Meralco bought it in 1995 and restored it in 1997), it has a filigreed cast iron staircase that wind up to the balustered rampart.

The Adriano House
 The 2-storey Bautista Caryatid House, behind the Adriano House, has ornately sculpted Neo-Classic touches and was built in 1855 and redecorated in 1877 in the French Art Noveau style.  It was the Secretaria de Fomento and home of Antonio Bautista, Aguinaldo’s Secretary of the Interior.  It contains heirloom memorabilia including the original KKK flag and here, Jose Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar spoke to the 21 women of Malolos on June 27, 1892.  Through the years, the house has been used as a municipal hall, a primary school and a barracks for Japanese soldiers.  Restored in the 1970s by descendant Basilidez “Dez” Bautista, its ground floor has an arched double door while the second floor’s columns are decorated by unique caryatids.
 
The Bautista Caryatid House 

The Erastro Cervantes House, beside an old movie theater, once housed Aguinaldo’s Department of the Interior.   The Arcadio Ejercito House housed Aguinaldo’s Department of War.  The Lino Reyes House, across the side entrance of the cathedral, once housed Aguinaldo’s Secretaria de Exterior.  Built by couple Lino and Maria Reyes probably after they were married in 1892, it was progressively renovated in the 1930s.  The house has an octagonal rose window and a weather vane on top of the roof.  

A sad case in point is the Ponciano Tiongson House which was demolished in the 1980s.  Formerly located across the Erastro Cervantes House, it had intricate balustered windows and once served as Aguinaldo’s Commisaria de Guerra.  An internet cafe now stands in its place.

The Hermogenes Reyes House

Other ancestral houses were built during the early American era.  The Hermogenes Reyes House, located a few blocks from the cathedral, was built in 1904 by couple Hermogenes and Teodora Reyes.

The gabled roof Lomotan House
The Dr. Luis Santos House, built in 1933 by an EENT doctor, has a spacious front garden with a fountain with a pair of lovely nymphs. The house sports a pastel blue and white, Art-Deco-inspired facade.

Dr. Luis Santos House

Adriano-Vasquez Mansion: Pariancillo St., Malolos City, Bulacan.
Arcadio Ejercito House: cor. Estrella and Pariancillo Sts., Malolos City, Bulacan.
Bautista Caryatid House: Sto. Nino St., Malolos City, Bulacan
Erastro Cervantes House: Pariancillo St.,Malolos City, Bulacan.
Hermogenes Reyes House: F.T. Reyes St. (formerly Calle Electricidad), Brgy. Sto. Nino, Malolos City, Bulacan.
Lino Reyes House: Estrella St., Malolos City, Bulacan.
Lomotan House: Sto. Nino St., Malolos City, Bulacan

Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Malolos City, Bulacan)

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After our Barasoain Church visit, Jandy and I proceeded on our way to the nearby Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the ecclesiastical seat of the Diocese of Malolos.  Located in front of the city hall, this Neo-Classical church, and its convent, were first built with light materials in 1591, rebuilt and enlarged in 1691 by Fr.  Roque Barrionuevo, rebuilt with stronger materials in 1734 by Fr. Fernando Sanchez and completed in 1740 by Fr. Juan de Meseguer. Fr. Jose de Vivar did minor restorations in 1753.  Both were destroyed by fire in 1813. From 1963, several restorations were pursued by Engr. Alfredo Aldaba, affecting the facade, dome, transept and main altar.  The present church was started in 1819 by Fr. Melchor Fernandez and consecrated on October 14, 1826.  Severely damaged during the June 3, 1863 earthquake, it was restored from 1859 to 1872 by Fr. Ezekiel Moreno.

Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

The convent was damaged during the July 19, 1880 earthquake, restored in 1883 by Fr. Juan M. Tombo and completed in 1884 by Fr. Felipe Garcia. It was the official residence (Palacio Presidential) of Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo from September 10, 1898 to March 29, 1899.  The convent was reconstructed in 1975.  In 1976, both church and convent were blessed  by Rev. Bruno Torpigliani, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

The convent

The basilica has a moderately-decorated, symmetrical facade divided into 3 segments by superpositioned Doric columns and dominated by large, semicircular arched openings on the first level.  The triangular pediment, decorated by a stylized Augustinian emblem at the center, is topped by acroteria and torch-like finials.  The horizontal Doric frieze is decorated with triglyphs and the fluted pilaster-flanked, statued niche is topped by a segmented canopy crowning the tilted frame of the center window.

The basilica’s interior

The basilica has a slender, 4-storey bell tower on its right.  It used to have a triangular cone which was replaced, during the basilica’s renovation in 1970, by a concrete statue of the Immaculate Conception (donated by Amparo Bautista).

The Kalayaan Tree

In front of the basilica (at the right side of the plaza) is a 12-m. high siar tree (Peltophorum pterocarpum), now known as the Kalayaan Tree.  It was said to have been planted by Gen. Aguinaldo during a lull in the convention. proceedings.  Under this tree is a monument depicting a meeting of Filipino revolutionaries Gregorio del Pilar, Isidoro Torres, Don Pablo Tecson, Fr. Mariano Sevilla and Dona Basilia Tantoco.

The monument under the Kalayaan Tree

Barasoain Church (Malolos City, Bulacan)

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After breakfast and swimming at DJ Paradise Resort & Hotel, Jandy and I checked out of our room, boarded our Toyota Revo and proceeded to the city proper where we plan to visit Malolos’ historical sights.  The first item in our agenda was, fittingly, the Barasoain Church (also called the Church of Our Lady of Carmel), the site of the Revolutionary Congress which ratified independence, framed the Malolos Constitution and inaugurated the short-lived First Philippine Republic (Malolos Republic). Former president Joseph E. Estrada also took his oath of office here.

Barasoain Church

This noble and dignified church, with its beautiful concerto of rhythmic layers, has a Neo-Classical facade with a recessed main entrance with concentric arches (a Romanesque feature) flanked by two smaller doors, fluted  flat pilasters (a Renaissance feature), a Baroque segmental pediment,  and sharp line moldings at the cornice, base and top of the piers.  The two sides of the facade, with its sweeping concave lines at the upper wall, curve inward to form an oval shape.

The altar frontal
The church interior
The church pulpit

Inside is a unique 18th century altar frontal with beautiful stone columns and murals on the walls and ceilings done by Baliwag artists and the National Historical Institute.  The church is now airconditioned during Sunday mass.

The bell tower

The 4-storey, octagonal bell tower on the left, was built in 1889 by Fr. Martin Arconada and is crowned by a conical roof.  It has 3 bells installed in 1897 and has alternating open and false windows rising in uneven modules that end up in the crenellated base of the pointed pinnacle.

Barasoain Convent

Beside the church is the convent.  First built in 1859 by Fr. Francisco Arriola, it was restored in 1889 by Fr. Martin Arconada and in 1894 by Fr. Miguel de Vera.  During the short-lived Philippine Republic, it was again restored by Arcadio Arellano and used as the Universidad Cientifica y Literaria de Filipinas.  It now houses two museums: the Ecclesiastical Museum and the Barasoain Museum.   Both church and convent were declared as National Landmarks on August 1, 1973 and on January 23, 1999.

Carriage used by Pres. Aguinaldo during his inauguration
The convent courtyard
Barasoain Church: Paseo de Congreso, Malolos City, Bulacan.  Tel: (044) 662-7686.

National Shrine of St. Anne (Hagonoy, Bulacan)

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National Shrine of St. Anne

The National Shrine of Saint Anne, honoring St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was first built of stone and brick from 1731 to 1734 by Fr. Juan Albarran OSA, but burned down on August 12, 1748. The church was rebuilt on its present site (moved due to flooding on the former site) by Fr. Eusebio Polo in 1749 and completed in 1752 by Fr. Buenaventura Roldan.

It was replaced with a stone church by Fr. Juan Coronado from 1815 to 1836, damaged by fire in 1856 and enlarged in 1862 by Fr. Manuel Alvarez.  The church was again damaged by during the 1871 earthquake and was repaired in 1872 by Fr. Ignacio Manzanares who strengthened the choir loft’s supporting arches.

NHI plaque installed in 1981

It was intermittently restored in 1936 and, in 1961, a monumental porte-cochere  was added by Fr. Celestino Rodriguez.  Prior to the mid-20th century renovation, the church façade was bare of ornamentation save for volutes founds on the end of the imaginary triangular pediment, circular reliefs and buttress-like pilasters capped with roof tiles.

The church’s Baroque facade

However, much of the design of the façade has been changed after the 1968 to 1970 renovation (under Monsignor Jose B. Aguinaldo and inaugurated on July 25, 1970) when the wood trusses and galvanized iron roofing were replaced, roof and main altar painted and the façade coated white and decorated with images placed above pilasters.

Statue of St. Anne

In 1981, a marker bearing a brief history of the church was installed on the facade by the National Historical Institute (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines) and, in 1991, church was declared as a National Shrine.

Statues of Augustinian saints

The church’s Baroque façade, pierced with 5 windows (three semicircular arched ones and two rectangular ones on the first level), now sports three arched entrances, all featuring hardwood doors carved with great details.  The main entrance, with an antique hardwood door carved with bas-reliefs, is flanked by two smaller semicircular arched doorways.

Another row of statues of Augustinian saints

The four sets of superimposed pilasters, incorporated with Tuscan capitals, divide the facade into two levels (the first smaller than the second) and ends up in a triangular pediment with huge, contemporary statues of Augustinian saints flanking that of St. Anne.  At the center of the pediment is a rose window and a tableau of Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary. The porte-cochere, with its balustraded top, mars the view of the bottom part of the façade.

Cross with two cherubs at the top of pediment

The second level, dominated by a rose window in the center, has windows corresponding to the choir loft and partly hidden by the portico.  The convent beside the church is now the main building of St. Anne’s Catholic School.

The former convent, now St. Anne Catholic School

The six-storey square bell tower, to the left of the church, was originally a five-level tower.  During the 1968 to 1970 reconstruction of the church, the sixth level and a cupola was added. for Save for the balustrade, semicircular arch windows and buttresses placed at the corners of the tower, the bell tower is bare of detailed ornamentation. A cross, held up by two cherubs, caps off the entire façade.

Elaborately carved wooden door at main entrance

Another elaborately carved wooden door at the side entrance

This church holds the relics of St. Anne from the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, the international shrine in Quebec, Canada and also the relics of St. Joachim, the husband of St. Anne. 

The six-storey bell tower

National Shrine of St. Anne: Brgy. Sto. Niño, Hagonoy. Tel: (044) 793-2829. Feast of St. Anne: July 26.

How to Get There: Hagonoy is located 55.6 kms. (a 1.5-hour drive) from Manila an 15.5 kms. (a 40-min. drive) from Malolos City.