Simbaan a Bassit or Camposanto in Vigan City

August 29th, 2008 -- Posted in Churches, Historians, Ilocos Sur, Religious Shrines | No Comments »

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At the end of Vigan’s Quezon Avenue stands the Simbaan a Bassit which is actually a cemetery chapel wherein rectangular columns support the church façade. It was built in 1852 and dedicated to the Sto. Cristo, popularly revered in Ilocos as “Apo Lakay” who was believed to save Vigan from a plaque that ravaged it. Historian Alberto Lacsamana writes that the “uniqueness of the chapel lies in its being the only one in the region having an espadaña hung with bells.” A statue of the crucified Christ is found behind the main altar. The chapel’s marker bears that the cemetery was blessed by Rev. Vicente Barreiro on Nov. 9, 1852 but the chapel’s interior now looks modern with all the repairs done through the years.

St. Paul Metropolitan Cathedral of Vigan City

August 29th, 2008 -- Posted in Cathedrals, Churches, Historians, Ilocos Sur, Patron Saints, Religious Shrines | No Comments »

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As founded in the church’s marker, the original church was a chapel of wood and that erected in 1574 on orders of Juan de Salcedo, the conquistador and Founder of Villa Fernandina (now Vigan). Historian Benito Legarda writes that the “construction of the cathedral to replace the dilapidated church of San Pablo was authorized by the celebrated Governor Jose de Basco y Vargas in 1786, and the cornerstone was laid on January 31, 1790.” The church itself became a cathedral when the seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia was transferred from Lal-lo, Cagayan to Vigan in 1758. An imposing structure in the heart of Vigan, the church’s main door was flanked by two pairs of columns which rise to the second tier of the façade. A niche above the main door houses a statue of St. Paul. There is a three-story bell tower with a square base and a mini-dome at the top lies nearby.