Paoay Church

San Agustín at Paoay, completed in 1710, is the most striking of the four Baroque Churches of the Philippines inscribed by UNESCO in 1993, and the reason is structural rather than decorative. Ilocos sits in an earthquake zone, and the builders answered that with fourteen massive buttresses along the flanks, stepped and scrolled and so deep that they read as architecture in their own right, giving the church a silhouette unlike anything else in the country - part fortress, part something older, with a coral-stone and brick surface that has weathered to a mottled grey. A separate three-storey bell tower stands clear of the building, a deliberate precaution so that a collapsing tower would not take the church with it; it was used as an observation post in both the revolution against Spain and the Second World War. Beside the church is the plaza and the town; the Paoay Lake and the sand dunes are nearby.

What you actually see

• The buttresses - fourteen stepped supports down the flanks.
• The detached bell tower - the separate tower beside the church.
• The coral-stone walls - weathered brick and stone surface.
• The plaza - the open square in front.

When to go

November to May for dry weather and clear light; late afternoon puts the sun on the facade. Weekday mornings are quietest.

Honest expectations

It is a working parish and closes to sightseers during services and weddings. The interior is plainer than the exterior. There is little shade in the plaza.

Nearby

The Paoay sand dunes, Malacañang of the North and Laoag are all within half an hour.