HSTARC2: MANILA STRUCTURE (Quiapo Church)

HSTARC2: MANILA STRUCTURE

“Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene”

The Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, also known as St. John, the Baptist Parish, is a church structure located at the district of Quiapo, Manila.

It is locally and popularly known as “Quiapo Church”, the Roman Catholic Church that houses the statue of the Black Nazarene (Poong Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno), a well venerated wooden image statue of a black colored Jesus Christ carrying the cross, which is said to have given miracles to its various devotees.

Every Fridays, the church is crowded with parishioners and devotees which flock together to celebrate. However, it is every January 9 that the real celebration and parade is conducted, it is well known to be the feast of the Black Nazarene or simply “Quiapo Day”.

The current cream color of the church was painted after the original Mexican Baroque styled structure that was burned down in 1928. The church had undergone a lot of rebuilding and reconstruction due to calamities such as great fires and powerful earthquakes.

Site Information:

Quiapo, Manila is considered to be the “heart of Manila” since it is very well centered on the on map location of the city. The place may be referred and also known as “old downtown”. The origins of Quiapo were a series of intersecting rivers, canals and marshes where water lilies grows abundantly, whose name goes by “Kiapo”.

Quiapo soon became a center of commerce and transaction during the Spanish times. Which later on continued to be as it was even today. Makets, theaters, trade stores, crafts, “ukay-ukay”, etc. was found in its streets and vicinity.

The famous Plaza Miranda is also located here on which various kinds of people gather, the rich, the mid class and the poor. Market or trades are seen evidently along its districts and streets.

The location of The Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene is directly in front of Plaza Miranda. It is said that during the Spanish times, these was said to have been a strategic placement. Seeing the plaza, where people gather signifies the locals and community here while the church signifies the religious power and the people who preach along with it. So the plaza being placed directly near the church means that the religious are governing over the locals and the people.

As of today, when you say the place “Quiapo” it would mean a place of spiritual devotees and busy business of cheap and affordable goodies and things to buy.

History:

                When the district of Quiapo was founded August 29, 1586 by Governor General Santiago de Vera, the Franciscan missionaries built too the first church of Quiapo. It was made using the materials bamboo and nipa. San Pedro Bautista, a Franciscan missionary, was the head founder of the church along with the other many churches he founded here. The structure was caught and fire and burned. Later on it was rebuilt to be a stone structure in a Mexian Baroque style. However, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake and was also burnt down. The church was left in ruins and only the scarred walls and belfry were left behind. The church was again rebuilt under    the raising of funds. It survived the World War II despite the destruction of the other structures near it. And Quiapo church today was a result of the continuous rebuilding and molding of the church to contain the ever growing devotees of the church and the Black Nazarene.

Known People in the History of the Quiapo Church building rebuilding process:

San Pedro Bautista the Franciscan missionary that founded the Quiapo Church here in the Philippines.

Fathers Eusebio de Leon and Manuel Roxas supervised the rebuilding of the third church which was completed in 1899

Dona Encarnacion Nakpil de Orense raised the funds for the reconstruction of the left ruins of the burnt down Quiapo church. 

Juan Nakpil, an architect, was the one that handled the rebuilding of the Quiapo church. He was well known to make several notable buildings. He is also renowned as a “National Artist for Architecture”. He was responsible for erecting a dome and a second belfry to the church.

Msgr. Jose Abriol, together with Architect Jose Ma. Zaragoza and Engr. Eduardo Santiago were the people responsible for the remolding and reconstructing of the church to handle the growing capacity of the parishioners and devotees.

Purpose and Function:

                The Quiapo church was built to be a place where Roman Catholics can pray, it was really known as St John, the Baptist church, on which the guidance of the church is under St John the Baptist. However, when the Black Nazarene was brought to the church. The Previous was over shadowed and was less revered in the church. Now, Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene was blessed and is now purposed to house the Black Nazarene or also called Senor.

Plans, Analysis and Details:

                The façade of Quiapo church shows symmetry and balance though proportionality of the building structure. It shows equality on both sides of the church. The two belfries, that stands four storeys high, are quite interesting to look at and it adds both Christian faith authority, magnificence and beauty to the structure. It’s designs is that of a combination of Renaissance style bell towers and pagodas.  The Papal seal is also present at the upper part of the church façade, it signifies that it was elevated to be a minor basilica by the Vatican. The first storey of the church is divided to vertical panels. The second storey has a flat expanded wall that exhibits an alternation of rounded pillars. The main entrance can be found at the center of the panels of the first storey, other entrances are found on the sides and the far back part of the church. Upon entering the main entrance of the church, you would be faced with a tall arch shaped door with a clear view of the hall on which on the far end you can see the magnificent altar at the center. On the sides of the church are a series of windows designed with stained glass, it is also in arch shaped in style. The design of the church floor plan follows that of a usual church, as that of Romanesque and Gothic style. You can evidently see the cross shaped pattern of the interior of the church. The transepts of Quiapo Church are not that much extended but still is catching. Further inside the altar, the dome that would be seen above is is also a marvel to look at. It is edged with four golden significant carvings at the lower part and windows in a rounding path at the mid part and upper part of the dome. The addition of the grand dome somehow shows and gives a light shining to the altar, it gives a more grace bounding effect on the church.

Trivia:

The reconstruction, from the time it was burned down in 1928, of Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene took three decades to complete.

The Quiapo church is surrounded by the presence of life size life statues of the twelve apostles which is said to give spiritual guidance and protection to the church and the devotees.

The Quiapo church still lived on and was reconstructed due to destruction four times til present. It was burnt by fires during 1791 and 1928 and was hit by a strong earthquake during 1645 and 1863. Luckily it was not destroyed during the Second World War. It would have been its fifth time (maybe) of reconstruction if it was.

The current Quiapo church structure is remodeled to support more people even without its columns inside.

Reason why I chose the building:

                Going through the lessons we have tackled so far in HSTARC2 subject, the Baroque style, Gothic style and Renaissance, I felt a strong attraction to buildings that are inclined to the religious Christian style of architecture. Maybe because many, if not most of them structure are churches. Being a religious myself, I had the urge to pick a church that I found influential not only to our country but also to myself. Having the area of Manila to look for a church, a lot of ideas came to mind. Baclaran Church, Binondo Church and San Agustin church was amongst them churches that popped out of my mind. They are quite famous and good to explore and study about. Another would be Malate Church, which I found to be the nearest interesting church to the place I am staying at here at Taft. However, as I started to browse more amongst the churches, the two churches which can be found in Quiapo took a great deal of interest in me. San Agustin church, a gothic styled church, and the Black Nazarene Church, Quiapo Church. My parents, who I may say are quite the devotees and always visiting Quiapo Church every now and then to pray and celebrate mass, gave me a drawn attention to the church. I never really gave much attention to the structure of Quiapo Church, even though I casually attend and celebrated mass there. Quiapo is such a, how should I call it, a busy place to be. I never really noticed and got the chance to appreciate the beauty of Quiapo church without the disturbance and irritated feeling caused by its surroundings, if you know what I mean. So going back to the question why I picked the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene to be my structure? May I can say that it is mainly for the reasons that I want to focus, analyze and take time to appreciate the church more than I have before. After all, it’s the house of the Black Nazarene which is said do wonders and miracles to its devotees like us.

Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene (Quiapo)