Municipality in Pampanga, Philippines
Photo: Judgefloro, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Bacolor is a town in Pampanga, the Philippines. Formerly the provincial capital, it was devastated by lahar flows from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo but has since recovered with the help of renewed interest in its ruined state.
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Bacolor Church, Sunken Church
Bacolor's main Roman Catholic church, which also doubles as a memorial to the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption. The original church building dates back to 1587 but was destroyed by an earthquake, and the present church is from 1897. During a lahar flow from Mount Pinatubo exacerbated by a typhoon in 1995, the church, along with its cemetery became half-buried in lahar, which has since hardened.
The church remains a place of worship, following an effort to hollow out the structure's ceiling to provide space and the conversion of the choir loft into the main entrance. It also hosts an ecclesiastical and local history museum housing religious artefacts and paintings by local artists of the 1991 eruption, along with photographs showing what the church looked like before it was half-sunk. At the museum's exit is a stall selling church-related souvenirs.
Cabetican Shrine
A Catholic shrine built in the Brutalist style. It was also buried to its roof by lahar flows from Mount Pinatubo in 1995, but was partially excavated in 2005. The structure lost of its height to the volcanic mud, and its interior, which was partially cleared out, exudes a cave-like atmosphere, with the jungle-like altarpiece also carved from lahar.
An 18th century residence that somehow managed to survive the Pinatubo eruption intact and unburied by lahar.
A restaurant serving Kapampangan dishes.
San Fernando Road, Cabambangan
From Manila, take the San Fernando exit along the North Luzon Expressway leading to the Gapan-Olongapo Road, also known as Jose Abad Santos Avenue (JASA).
Read in the guideTricycles are the main form of transportation between barangays, especially as Jose Abad Santos Avenue bypasses downtown Bacolor.
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