Location: Intramuros, Manila
Category: Buildings/Structures
Type: Building
Status: Level II – Historical marker
Marker date: 1934
Installed by: Historical Research and Markers Committee
Marker text:
CHURCH OF SAN AGUSTIN
OLDEST IN THE PHILIPPINES. CORNERSTONE LAID IN 1599, CHURCH COMPLETED IN 1606 UNDER SUPERVISION OF THE LAY BROTHER ANTONIO HER RERA, OF THE CHURCH IN MANILA, THIS ONE ALONE WITHSTOOD THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1645, 1754, 1852 AND 1880. THE CHOIR HAS 68 CARVED MOLAVE SEATS. AN ARTISTIC LECTERN AND PARCHMENT CANTORALS OF THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES. THIS CHURCH AND ITS GRAVES WERE PROFANED DURING THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF MANILA IN 1762, AND THE ASHES OF LEGASPI, SALCEDO, LAVEZARES AND OTHERS NOW REST IN THE EASTERN MOST CHAPEL OF THE TRANSEPT. TERMS FOR THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF MANILA WERE SIGNED IN THE VESTRY OF THIS CHURCH IN AUGUST, 1898.
