San Pablo Church Ruins
A Roman Catholic church built in 1624 and now a ruin. It is the oldest church in Isabela.
The Second World War damaged it and a magnitude 7 earthquake brought it down in 1949. Fire took the roof in the 1950s. A smaller church, a third of the size, was later built inside the old walls. The facade still stands, with bas-relief and religious figures on each side of the arched entrance, and the buttresses still hold the shell up. The walls are brick mixed with riverstone, adobe and coral stone, and the six-layer belfry was once the tallest in the Cagayan Valley. The National Museum has named the ruin a national cultural treasure, but no restoration has started.
- Where
- San Pablo
- Town
- Isabela
Written by an editor · 23 Sep 2026 · source: Wikipedia, San Pablo Church Ruins