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.

History

The earliest record of the area dates from 1593, and it became an independent Augustinian parish by 1686; the Augustinian friar Antonio Estavillo began the present church in 1694, it was completed in 1710 and rededicated in 1896. Earthquakes in 1865 and 1885 damaged parts of it, later restored on the initiative of the former First Lady Imelda Marcos. It was declared a National Cultural Treasure in 1973 and a World Heritage Site in 1993 among the Baroque Churches of the Philippines; the National Historical Commission conserved its stone walls, buttresses, bell tower stair and roof from 2019 to June 2020, and it reopened on 15 November 2020 (Wikipedia, Paoay Church).

Highlights

• 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.

Before you go

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.

Key facts