I used to look at churches plainly as the house of God, a place where people gather and pray. But as I was taking a step higher in learning more about architecture, I began to look at churches as a historical significance. It is the remaining structure that would remind us about how Christianity influenced the lives of the Filipinos through the years. Taking up Architectural Conservation was a bit tiring yet a very exciting experience for me. It was tiring in the sense that we have to have more or less appropriate measurements on a portion that we were to measure. Imagine getting all the dimensions in even the tiniest details of the structure.
Old churches don't have documented floor plans and elevations back then. When one of the old churches in Santander, southern most part of Cebu, was destroyed by fire, there were no written documents or any remnants of the church that it ever existed. Everything got burned and it is for this reason why other parish priests were in a hurry for their church to be documented in case such thing happens in their church. Our school was the only one who had an Architectural Heritage Conservation team and offers heritage conservation course in Cebu that is why many people approached or school once in a while in order to guide them in restoration or preservation of a certain structure.
We were assigned to document Sto. Thomas de Villanueva Church in Danao City, Cebu. We had the farthest site and the biggest structure for a church while our other classmates had only residential houses. Despite the size of the structure and the effort of travelling, we had to do our task.
exterior of sto. thomas de villanueva church
interior of sto. thomas de villanueva church
Looking at the two pictures, we can see that there’s a contrast in the exterior and the interior of the church. The church had undergone reconstruction because it was destroyed by fire around 1942 including important records and religious items leaving only the thick solid walls. The façade is one of the few parts that remained as the original part while the rest were new.
Here are some of the church’s old pictures during its reconstruction:
Some parts had to be destroyed in order to give way to new features to be added.
The interior design was post-American style. The church originally had a Latin cross plan but due to the adjustments and addition of spaces that they made in the rear part of the church, the plan became unsymmetrical. It was a sad realization that beautiful things got destroyed because the people who have it don’t know how preserves and restores them properly. The layout of the plan more or less looked like this.
The extensions on the upper left part of the plan were later additions and those spaces served as the offices of the parish priest. The plan was even different to what was built because they had to make changes even while the construction was on going. The dome near the altar and the clerestory windows emit light to the interior of the church making it brighter during daytime.
The exterior of the church were made of coral stones and there were portions that were made of bricks. It is evident on the arch that formed the outline of the stained glass. The deterioration of the coral stones is also evident because of its exposure to the natural elements such as the rain, sun and the wind.
We were assigned to document Sto. Thomas de Villanueva Church in Danao City, Cebu. We had the farthest site and the biggest structure for a church while our other classmates had only residential houses. Despite the size of the structure and the effort of travelling, we had to do our task.
exterior of sto. thomas de villanueva church
interior of sto. thomas de villanueva church
Looking at the two pictures, we can see that there’s a contrast in the exterior and the interior of the church. The church had undergone reconstruction because it was destroyed by fire around 1942 including important records and religious items leaving only the thick solid walls. The façade is one of the few parts that remained as the original part while the rest were new.
Here are some of the church’s old pictures during its reconstruction:
Some parts had to be destroyed in order to give way to new features to be added.
The interior design was post-American style. The church originally had a Latin cross plan but due to the adjustments and addition of spaces that they made in the rear part of the church, the plan became unsymmetrical. It was a sad realization that beautiful things got destroyed because the people who have it don’t know how preserves and restores them properly. The layout of the plan more or less looked like this.
The extensions on the upper left part of the plan were later additions and those spaces served as the offices of the parish priest. The plan was even different to what was built because they had to make changes even while the construction was on going. The dome near the altar and the clerestory windows emit light to the interior of the church making it brighter during daytime.
The exterior of the church were made of coral stones and there were portions that were made of bricks. It is evident on the arch that formed the outline of the stained glass. The deterioration of the coral stones is also evident because of its exposure to the natural elements such as the rain, sun and the wind.
This church doesn’t look as old as the churches that were located on the southern part of Cebu. But still, this church is important to natives of Danao. The Heritage Conservation team of the University of San Carlos had already oraganized workshops and lectures on Heritage Conservation in order to help the people take care of their church. Despite the stress and the weariness we felt while doing the documentation of this church, me and my groupmates were happy that our output documentation will be benefited by the people of Danao City.
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