The grand and baroque cemetery chapel of San Joaquin, Iloilo

The old cemetery chapels located in the camposanto built during the Spanish colonial era is one of the interesting religious heritage structures in the country. Unfortunately, many don’t have the focus they deserve. Only a few remain that still exists in the Philippines and their deterioration continues to this day.

This Top 10 list is a good start and that Filipinos should visit or be aware of. This listing is in no way complete as there are still some places that I have to visit but do note that this list covers cemetery chapels found outside of Metro Manila. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any cemetery chapels in Mindanao. Another note, this doesn’t include mortuary chapels which are found beside or infront of the church.

This is my entry for the Pinoy Travel Bloggers’s blog carnival hosted by The Pinay Solo Backpacker.

1 San Joaquin, Iloilo
Perhaps one of the most beautiful in the country, the cemetery chapel in San Joaquin, Iloilo is a head turner as one passes by the highway. A gated entrance leads to a grand staircase and on to this beautiful baroque structure that always awes visitors.

The cemetery chapel of Cabatuan, Iloilo has stylized bas relief

2 Cabatuan, Iloilo
Cabatuan in Iloilo is known mostly for its massive and beautiful church with a retablos made of sandstone. But few know that its cemetery chapel along the highway has one of the most stylized skull and cross bones in mortuary art during the Spanish colonial period. More info and images here.

Tabaco City cemetery chapel in Albay is unique for its construction material

3 Tabaco City, Albay
The cemetery chapel in Tabaco City is one of the well preserved structures in the Bicol region. It uses black lava stones abundant in the area, similar to the construction material of the old church. It has interesting bas relief details at its facade.

Tayabas's Santuario de las almas

4 Tayabas, Quezon
The Santuario de las almas in Tayabas is one of two cemetery chapel found in the municiaplity. This beautiful structure is one of the biggest in the country and where Spaniards and Filipino elites were used to be interred. Though located a few hundred meters from the basilica, it faces it directly.

Tayabas cemetery chapel in Quezon is unique with its twin towers and architectural style

5 Tayabas, Quezon
The cemetery chapel in Tayabas, Quezon is interesting as it is one of a few chapels with twin belfries, similar to Lucban, in the same province, which is now in ruins. What makes it more interesting is the use of Gothic architectural style which is represented by the trefoil pediment reminiscent of Lucban church and the lancet blind niche, central niche and entrance.

Nagcarlan's cemetery chapel done in the baroque style

6 Nagcarlan, Laguna
Nagcarlan in Laguna is famous for its underground cemetery, the only public catacomb in the country. Like the simbaan a bassit in Vigan, it has an espadana at the top serving as its pediment, a pair of blind oculi and a central niche. It is also the highlight of a circular cemetery.

Vigan's Simbaan a bassit in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur

7 Simbaan a bassit, Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
Historic Vigan City is admired for its old structures and one of these is the cemetery chapel also called Simbaan a bassit. Done in the neoclassical style and adorned with a pair of volutes at the side (a baroque style) and some floral details, its the only one that has an espadana (top part where the bells are hung) in the Ilocos region.

The Calamba cemetery chapel in Cebu City is unique for its beautiful and unusual bas relief of death

8 Calamba, Cebu City
Of the cemetery chapels listed here, its only the Calamba chapel that has been refurbished and renovated badly with the front added with a badly designed portico and the lower portion cemented. This chapel is interesting for its bas relief located at the center of the pediment. It shows death with a scythe, crowned and holding an hour glass which readily drives down to men his mortality.

The quaint baroque cemetery chapel of Laoag City

9 Laoag City, Ilocos Norte
Tucked in one of the least visited places in Laoag City (well, except during 1 November), the cemetery chapel of this city is one of the bigger ones but quaint and built in subdued baroque style. Like Saravia, it is one of the few intact brick cemetery chapel in the country.

Saravia's cemetery chapel with brick facade

10 E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental
E.B. Magalona, formerly Saravia, in Negros Occidental has a beautiful cemetery chapel that is located near the highway. Of the many places I’ve visited, it is one of the very few brick structure that has an intact facade that I have seen. However, the interior has been renovated already and the roof has been replaced. More info here.

The cemetery chapel as it looked in July 1986. Note the tejas (tiles) for its roofing

A Simbahan reader, Handel Advento sent me an email together with impressive images of the then Oton cemetery chapel prior to its renovation in 21 October 1997. I was awe struck with its beauty and antiquity, a far cry from what we see now. Handel wrote:

Here are the photos of the Oton cemetery chapel taken around July 1986. A simple camera was used for these shots so I hope you understand the low quality. The chapel just caught my interest along the way to somewhere else and we simply stopped to take pictures.

He continues:

The inscription as seen in your photos now was actually on the right side entrance of the chapel (if you’re facing the front), and there was no inscription on the main entrance at that time. It was also very faded and hardly discernable.

The biggest surprise to me was the tile roof. What struck me when I first saw it was its similarity to the chapel housing Magellan’s Cross in Cebu… And there were no block-like marks on the walls. The whole structure really had the mark of antiquity at that time.

Unfortunately, the tile roofing was removed and thrown away and those block like marks etched, like what we find in most ill defined restoration projects we see around the country. From the main photo, we can actually infer that this chapel really had three portals with the two found at its sides. These portals had the same column, finial and skull and cross bones decoration. As Handel pointed out, these portals also had inscriptions. Probably, during the renovation, they closed the two side entrances.

My gratitude to Handel Advento for this important images and information.

Photo credits: Handel Advento/Maximilius Tuason

The chapel at the old cemetery of Oton. Its outer wall was renovated in 21 October 1997

Inscription above the chapel portal

Located less than a kilometer from the church grounds and ruins of Oton in Iloilo is the old Catholic cemetery of the municipality. I still have to come across research that dates the construction of the cemetery chapel and walls but, this is just a hunch, it might have been built before the time of Fray Demetrio Cobos (1844-1854), parish priest, who laid the foundations of the beautiful gothic church. When compared with the other cemetery chapels in the province, it lacks the artistry and sophistication of Cabatuan, Janiuay, Miag-ao and San Joaquin.

The octagonal chapel, located at the center, akin to that of Cabatuan and Miag-ao, is simple with only an arch at its portal sparsely decorated with bas reliefs of skull and cross bones at each side with a finial at the top. Above it is an inscription done in, as per Bernie Arellano, a friend, archaic Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) and Karay-a:

Sa Dios magdayao ang manga tol-an sang mga nagpaobus sining cabuhi

In modern Hiligaynon, this roughly translates to: In God the bones praise for those who are humble in this life. This might not be the true translation but considering that it is archaic, tol-an might refer to the dead and not necessarily bones. The outer wall of the chapel was renovated by painting the surface and then making stone mark outlines. This softened the edges of the octagonal structure that it comes out circular. This was dated at 21 October 1997 based on a writing at the back.

I’m not sure what the material used in building the chapel but based on one skull and cross bone relief at the side (check photo below) where the paint has peeled off and showed the weathered stone, it might be soft limestone or sandstone, the same construction material used in Miag-ao and Cabatuan churches.

The chapel’s interior is even sparse. There are no niches like those of other cemetery chapels. There is a big crucifix at the center. Looking up, you can still see the wooden trusses that supports the roof. Originally, it has three portals like the chapel of Cabatuan but, probably after the renovation, the side entrances were sealed.

There are no longer traces of the original niches, usually at the back but the walls are still present. At the gate are two coral stone pillars topped with a metal grill arch. I’m not sure if the original sported a stone arch, like most old cemetery walls around the country but I can faintly remember a few years ago that when I passed Oton, it was different. At the side, the stone pillars are of mamposteria (rocks) and not of cut coral stone.

Close up of the original wall that remains of the gothic church destroyed by the earthquake of 5 January 1948

The gothic church of oton before the earthquake of 1948

At the far left end of the present structure is a huge balete tree wherein a grotto is constructed. Upon close inspection, amidst the roots of the tree, are huge blocks of coral stones stacked on top of each other, forming a wall. This is no other than the remnants of the original structure.

At the opposite end, at the far right side of the present church is also a shallow protrusion of stacked coral stone slabs beside the national highway. I presume that this was part of the original walls of the church complex. When I saw these two structures, ruins, I just felt a sense of awe and sadness that one of the country’s unique and beautiful church is gone forever.

The main altar was located at the center of the church which forms a Greek cross. Archival image from San Agustin Museum. CLICK TO ENLARGE.

It would have been a sight as one enters the lost church of Oton. From the main entrance with three gothic style doors, one is greeted with trompe l’oeils at the ceiling’s faux vault, the same features that now decorate the stone vault ceiling of San Agustin Church in Intramuros.

Where the four arms of the greek cross floor plan, a Byzantine style adaptation, of the church meet at the center, an impressive free standing and gothic style retablo rises.

This retable has four sides with each side having its own altar. It is separated from the nave by a beautiful wrought iron communion rail that ring the altar.

Above it, the pendentives, the triangular part where the dome connects with the walls below, are painted with the four evangelists, as is customary and still observed today.

As can be seen from the archival image at the left, the pulpit is not the typical one that hangs from the walls. Instead, it is supported from the ground. It is then topped with a gothic inspired torna voz with a spire rising at the center.

Oton Church is in the form of a Greek cross with four equal arms. It is mainly of the Gothic Order with other architectural styles blended. Image showing one of the side entrance. Archival image courtesy of San Agustin Museum.

The lost church of Oton in Iloilo 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 was in the form of a Greek cross, a byzantine floor plan with all four arms of equal length radiating from the center.

The structure has two levels. The first having semicircular windows running the length of its sides and each end of the arm having portals: three main doors at the main entrance and one each at the other arms. The second level has circular windows alternated with classical columns at each side and three openings with lancet arches top the portals.

The four entrances are crowned with a triangular pediment in the form of a gothic arch pierced with a rose window and flanked with two spires. Other than the three portals, the main entrance is also distinguished with bigger spires. A massive central dome has a lantern serving as a finial and below it are clerestory windows to admit light.

This blending of different architectural styles cohered in some way to become one of the unique structures in the country ever built. Unfortunately, it never survived to this day.

The stunning church of Oton, Iloilo was one of a kind in the Philippines but was destroyed not by war but by an earthquake. Archival image from the San Agustin Museum.

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.

The town of Oton was established by the Augustinians in 1572 after Cebu and Manila and was the center of their administration in Iloilo. In fact, the former name of the province is a namesake of the town. It’s name is the hispanized version of ogtong, meaning reef or tidal flat which is a main feature of the area and was then the encomienda of Don Miguel de Loarca.

The history of church building is a bit hazy but its first prior, Fray Martin de Rada was said to have built a church of good quality which was eventually destroyed during a Dutch attack in 1614. It was only in the 19th century that we get to know of a church being constructed during the curacy of Fray Demetrio Cobos who was parish priest from 1844-1854 that the first stones were laid.

Fray Diego de Hoz continued the project when Fray Cobos died in 1854. Fray Joaquin Fernandez, named in charge of construction in 1883 finished the edifice. The grand church was consecrated and blessed in 1892 by Fray Nicolas Gallo.

The edifice was spared during World War II but an earthquake on 5 January, 1948 destroyed it. It has never been rebuilt and only two bells, dated 1817 and 1887, and a portion of the wall, now built with a grotto, remain of the structure. The ruins of the old church can still be found in the area.

Cabatuan cemetery chapel

From the collection of archival photos of the San Agustin Museum courtesy of Fr. Pedro Galende, three old photos, circa 1960′s, 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.

One of three gates leading to the cemetery

The main cemetery entrance gate and fence with its beautiful arch and wrought iron grills. This one leads directly to the chapel while the other two gates leads to the sides.

View of the cemetery from afar

This cemetery is just along the road, a good distance from the massive church at the town center.

The domed octagonal cemetery of Tabaco is impressive with its architecture. Black volcanic stone is used, just like the cathedral.

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.

Not all towns and cities have them as only the more affluent ones were able to build these. Typically, these cemetery chapels are either found at the center, some are at the back end and an exception seems to be the Simbaan a Bassit which, other than located at the front, it has the only working espadaña, architectural feature where the bells are hung at the pediment, in the region. Nagcarlan is beautiful with its circular cemetery like Paco in Manila (not shown here), sports an espadaña and has a catacomb, the only one that I’ve seen.

Lucban and Tayabas surprised me with its twin belfries. While the former is in ruins, the latter is still in working condition and made me smile because of the gothic architecture (lancet portal & trefoil). Still in Tayabas, the Santuario de las Almas is huge compared to the other chapels.

Cabatuan, San Joaquin, Miag-ao all in Iloilo and Tabaco City in Albay have their own octagonal chapels of which San Joaquin is the most impressive. Tabaco’s is also stunning because of its dark volcanic stones. These two are domed.

Lastly, Sta. Maria in Ilocos Sur looks impressive but it’s difficult to ascertain as it is already in ruins. The one in Malabon, Metro Manila has only its lower part extant and is also in ruins. Both were constructed by the Augustinians and are located just near the main church.

Left, niches; middle, detail of brickwork; right, detail of column

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.

Like in other camposantos, these niches are rented out for a couple of years. If the rent is not renewed after the period, the bones are dumped in an osorio, a common skeletal dumping ground found within the area.