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Photo: Christian Mike Tangonan, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Bounded by the Manila Cathedral to the southeast, the Palacio del Gobernador to the southwest and the Ayuntamiento to the northeast, this small plot of land is Intramuros' very own plaza mayor (main square). At the centre of the plaza stands a monument to King Carlos IV of Spain, cast in 1808 and erected in 1824 by a colonial government grateful for his having dispatched a shipment of smallpox vaccine to the Philippines.
Plaza de Roma, also known as Plaza Roma, is one of three major public squares in Intramuros, Manila. It is bounded by Andres Soriano Avenue to the north, Cabildo Street to the east, Santo Tomas Street to the south, and General Antonio Luna Street to the west. The plaza is considered to be the center of Intramuros.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Destroyed and rebuilt several times over, the Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila and one of the most important churches in the Philippines. The current Neo-Romanesque iteration (consecrated in 1958) is the eighth - or sixth, depending on who's counting - to stand on the site since 1581, succeeding the 19th-century structure that was levelled to the ground during the 1945 Battle of Manila. A small exhibit detailing the Cathedral's history can be found in one of the side chapels near the entrance. The church was reopened in 2017 after a major renovation, and so Masses are once again being offered daily; refer to the official website for a full schedule of liturgical services. Tours are also available upon request. Free entrance, but donations are appreciated.
This eight-storey office building was erected in the late 1970s on the site of the Spanish Governor-General's official residence, which was destroyed in a powerful 1863 earthquake that also damaged many other structures in Intramuros. Sadly, the hulking modern building looks almost nothing like its grand 19th-century namesake.
Completely rebuilt in 1884 after the disastrous earthquake of 1863, the seat of Manila's colonial-era city council once had some of the grandest interiors in Intramuros. The 1945 Battle of Manila left it a gutted shell, of which only parts of the first storey survived; it then suffered the indignity of serving as a parking lot. A major reconstruction project that started a few years ago is finally nearing completion, with the façade of the historic building now having regained much of its pre-war glory.
A museum dedicated to the history and contributions of the Chinese-Filipino community. ₱100, ₱60 students/children.
Built in the 1820s and reconstructed after the 1863 earthquake, this building once housed the Spanish colonial government's customs offices and other administrative units. It was damaged during the war but survived to re-enter government service - at one point housing the Central Bank of the Philippines - only to fall victim to a 1979 fire that caused massive destruction. There are plans to restore the building (whose exterior walls have survived more or less intact) for the use of the National Archives.
A recreation of a typical upper-class colonial Intramuros home. The interiors are filled with antique furniture, artwork, and other artifacts from the Spanish era, all carefully arranged to illustrate what life was like for wealthy families of that period. ₱75, ₱50 students/children.