San Agustin Church

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The oldest stone church in the country, finished in 1607 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a trompe l'oeil ceiling. It stands inside Intramuros and is in the care of the Order of Saint Augustine. UNESCO listed it in 1993 as one of four Philippine churches in the group called Baroque Churches of the Philippines, and the government named it a National Historical Landmark in 1976.

Only one bell tower stands. Earthquakes in 1880 cracked the other, and it was taken down to the base you can still see. In the 1863 earthquake the church was the only public building in Manila left undamaged. The Spanish governor-general drew up the terms for the surrender of Manila to the United States here in 1898. Japanese troops held hundreds of Intramuros residents and clergy inside the church in the Second World War, and it was the only one of the seven Intramuros churches left standing in 1945. The monastery beside it was rebuilt in the 1970s as a museum.

Town

Manila

Written by an editor · 21 Sep 2026 · source: Wikipedia, San Agustin Church (Manila)