Santo Tomas de Villanueva

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Santo Tomas de Villanueva Church in Miagao
Santo Tomas de Villanueva Church in Miagao
dto., facade

The Church of Santo Tomas de Villanueva ( Spanish Iglesia de Santo Tomas de Villanueva ) in the municipality of Miagao in the province of Iloilo in the south of the central Philippine island of Panay is dedicated to St. Consecrated to Thomas von Villanova . She is one of the most historic churches in the country and belongs since 1993 as part of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines for UNESCO - World Heritage Site .

history

The city of Miagao, located on the south coast of the island of Panay, was only a village until 1580 and did not have an independent parish; she was visited at more or less regular intervals by a visiting priest . It was not until 1731 that the parish and town officially received the status of a parish. Due to attacks by Muslim pirates in 1741 and 1754, the place was moved a few hundred meters inland. In the years from 1787 to 1797 today's church, made of coral stones, was built; After various destruction by human hands and earthquakes , it has been restored again and again.

architecture

The unplastered single-nave church is approx. 15 m wide, 50 m long and only about 7 m high inside; the outer walls are over 1 m thick. The nave is stabilized on the outside by buttresses . The outstanding component is the facade secured by mighty, horizontally structured, sloping bell towers at the sides , the middle part of which is covered with a mixed decoration of European (e.g. niche figures and row of balusters ) and local (e.g. palm trees) motifs; The side cornices, curved almost like wings or garlands, are original but also strange . Characteristic for the baroque construction period are two round oval side windows in the gable field . The church has a main entrance and two more on the long sides; The nave and apse are spanned by a suspended segmented arched ceiling with what appears to be girders . The eye-catcher inside is the classicist-baroque altarpiece .

literature

  • Mike Aquino: Touring the oldest churches in the Philippines. 2013.

Web links

Commons : Church of Santo Tomas de Villanueva  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry on the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Center ( English and French ).

Coordinates: 10 ° 38 ′ 31 ″  N , 122 ° 14 ′ 8 ″  E