San Agustin Church is a Roman Catholic church under the auspices of The Order of St. Augustine, located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila. Completed by 1607, it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines. No other surviving building in the Philippines has been claimed to pre-date San Agustin Church.
In 1993, San Agustin Church was one of four Philippine churches constructed during the Spanish colonial period designated by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, under the classification “Baroque Churches of the Philippines”. It had been named a National Historical Landmark by the Philippine government in 1976.
San Agustin Church was built in 1586 and completed in 1606. An intricately carved door opens to the church. Of great interest are the XIXth century chandeliers, the pulpit, the side chapels, the tombstone on the floorings and an 18th century pipe organ. Like an impregnable fortress, San Agustin has withstood the ravages of time both brought by nature and by man; earthquakes and typhoons, Chinese and Dutch attacks, the British Occupation Force and the Philiipine-Spanish War, Dewey’s bombardment, the bloody and destructive Japanese Occupation and the equally devastating return of MacArthur’s troops.
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