Malate Catholic Church

With a limited time in Manila, I showed my Vietnamese friend a glimpse of Manila by bringing him to Malate Church. The church is just few blocks away from our hotel. We went there at 6AM as our meeting will start 3 hours after.

Interiors of Malate Church .

Formally known as Our Lady of Remedies Parish Church, the Malate Catholic Church is in front of the Plaza Rajah Sulayman and the Manila Bay. The church is dedicated to the patroness of childbirth, with the Our Lady of Remedies statue brought from Spain in 1624 being the center of the main altar.

The “Pieta” statue is dedicated to the casualties of World War II.

Having been destroyed several times by an earthquake, a typhoon and the war, the current church was rebuilt in the 1950’s and finally completed in the 1970’s based on the interiors and exteriors of the original one. One of the church’s most historical moments is its role during the British occupation of Manila. The British forces made the stone church their headquarters in 1762 where it became a convenient cover for them from their enemies.

Malate Catholic Church.

The Malate Church is a mixture of Mexican baroque and Moorish style. The use of twisted columns on the retablo type facade is a popular feature in Mexican baroque while the trefoil blind arches showed the influence of Moorish art on its architecture.

Plaza Rajah Sulayman

Standing at the plaza in front of the church is a statue of Rajah Sulayman. He was the ruler of the Kingdom of Maynila during the pre-Hispanic period in the late 16th century. Another statue dedicated to him can be seen at the nearby Rizal Park.

“Taho” vendor in front of the church.

Besides going to the church, I treated my friend with “taho”. It is a streetfood made up of silken tofu with sago pearls and sugar syrup. He told me that they have the same food in Vietnam.

Manila Bay

We also walked a bit along Manila Bay and we ended our short tour with a breakfast meal in the Philippines’ original fastfood chain Jollibee.

“Tapsilog” at Jollibee.