San Agustin Church

Location:  Real Street, Intramuros, Manila

     The first to be erected in Manila. - and all of Luzon - was the San Agustin Church and monastery complex in the walled city of Intramuros.
The original church was built of nipa in 1571, but was destroyed three years later during the raid of the Chinese pirate, Limahong. Two more buildings were razed in 1583 and 1586. The present structure begun in the late 16th century and finished in the first decade of the 17th, has not been substantially altered through the last 400 years.  It has endured Manila's periodic fires and earthquakes and WORLD WAR II, which reduced most of the city to rubble. It is considered the most outstanding archetype of colonial monastic architecture in the Philippines.