For some time now, eversince my mum taught us the visita iglesia, having no digital camera then was a big disappointment to me as I’ve always wished and wanted to take pictures of this impressive San Sebastian Church also known as Basilica Minore de San Sebastian.
The Basilica Minore de San Sebastian, better known as San Sebastian Church, is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Manila, the Philippines. It is the seat of the Parish of San Sebastian and the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
Completed in 1891, San Sebastian Church is noted for its architectural features. An example of the revival of Gothic architecture in the Philippines, it is the only all-steel church or basilica in Asia. It has also been implausibly reputed to be the first prefabricated building in the world, and more plausibly claimed as the only prefabricated steel church in the world. In 2006, San Sebastian Church was included in the Tentative List for possible designation as a World Heritage Site. It was designated as a National Historical Landmark by the Philippine government in 1973.[4]
San Sebastian Church is under the care of The Order of the Augustinian Recollects,
Originally the church was of wooden structure which was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times. Finally in the late 1880’s, a plan was proposed to build an all-steel fire- and earthquake-proof church. The design was done by Gustave Eiffel (the creator of the famous Eiffel Tower of Paris, France), and the church was manufactured in Belgium, knocked down into pieces (like the Statue of Liberty, another of Eiffel’s creations), then transported to Manila, where it was reconstructed. Finally, in 1891, the new San Sebastian Church was inaugurated.
The San Sebastian Church is the only church of revival of Gothic architecture in the Philippines. Whenever I am here can't help but to think of the Trinity Wall Street Church or the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.
Gothic architecture was known during the period as "the French Style" (Opus Francigenum). Its characteristic features include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress.
Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys and parish churches of Europe. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities, and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings
