It would have been a sight as one enters the lost church of Oton with its trompe l’oiels massive copula and an impressive gothic style and four sided retablo at the center.

The lost church of Oton was the only one of its kind in the Philippines in form and structure. It’s architecture is a combination of different architectural styles: gothic, classical and romanesque, a trait that is very much common in most Spanish colonial period churches in the country.

It would have been one of the country’s spectacular churches, if not the most beautiful were it not for a natural cataclysm that razed it to the ground. Oton’s once majestic church, in the form of a Greek cross, was unique as it was the only one with such a plan and architecture blending Byzantine with Gothic and classical elements.

From the collection of archival photos of the San Agustin Museum courtesy of Fr. Pedro Galende, three old photos of the beautiful Cabatuan cemetery are featured here. Above, is the capilla or chapel sans the vegetation that now blocked the view from the entrance. This chapel has the most stylized skull and crossbone bas relief in the country.

Extant mortuary chapels in the country are hard to find. Except maybe if you are in the province of Iloilo where there are a few excellent examples. However, beyond that province and Cebu, there are also scattered across the rest of the regions but not all and I haven’t seen one from Mindanao. During my travels, I was able to find some that are now posted here.

The back end of the camposanto is a wall filled with niches. During the colonial era, families of stature are interred here while the general public were buried at the grounds. The material used is not only limestone blocks but also bricks which form the frame of the niche as well as at the top portion of the columns. The capital are tuscan but some are already missing.