SAVING SAN SEBASTIAN

church and convento

Mention the word "Quiapo" to anybody and immediately what comes to mind are:  a) The Black Nazarene, b) Plaza Miranda, c) Quinta Market. A close fourth would be the Muslim Mosque. Sadly, no one seems to remember that Quiapo was once an enclave of prominent Filipino Spanish families that have lived there after WWII. The Hidalgos, Paternos, Iturraldes, and Garchitorenas once lorded it over the Indios in that area. 

gothic facade

True,  Quiapo has a seedy (C-D?) side. But there is also the part that is more stately and more genteel. So, tourists go to Quiapo to experience the rawness of the community that live and thrive in the midst of unruly street vendors, muddy puddles in the street and trash littered by the uncontrollable Nazarene devotees.

the chandelier were a later addition to the church

rich interiors without the lights

San Sebastian Church is hardly ever top of mind when one goes to Quiapo. So on a random invitation by AHP founder Tito Encarnacion, I went to visit San Sebastian , just to take advantage of photographing a near empty church on a sunny Saturday morning. there's only one word that describes San Sebastian - MAJESTIC!

gravestone

Holy water font

Here's a brief history of the church by architect and author Benjamin Locsin Layug*:

Nstra. Sra. del Carmen

    "Located at Plaza del Carmen at the eastern end of C.M. Recto Avenue in Quiapo, this church was originally founded by Fr Rodrigo de San Miguel as a nipa and bamboo church in 1621. It was burned by the Chinese in 1651, rebuilt with bricks and a single tower and was destroyed by the earthquakes of 1859, 3 Juune 1863, and 19 July 1880.Recollect Father Esteban Martinez proposed construction of a new church and they asked Engineer Don Genaro Palacios y Guerra to design the present earthquake -proof, Neo-Gothic church. Palacios' design , a variation of Earthquake Baroque, was said to have been inspired by the fourteenth century Gothic Cathedral of Burgos in Spain.

     The church was started by Father Gregorio Serma while the 52 tons of prefabricated steel sections from Belgium were ordered by Father Toribio Mingella, imported piece by piece in eight separate shipments (total load:50,000 tons)** and erected by Belgian engineers. To achieve greater stability and regulate the church's exterior temperature, the walls were filled with mixed sand, gravel and cement. The first column was erected on 11 September, 1890 under the supervision of Father Bernardo Muros and the church was finally completed by Father Francisco Moreno. It was granted Basilica status by Pope Leo XIII on 24 June 1890, blessed on 16 August 1891 by Bernardo Nozaleda, O.P., archbishop of Manila declared a histoprical landmark in 1973 and was listed as "endangered" by the World Monuments Watch, a global program of the World Monuments Fund.

     The basilica is the first and only aall-steel church in Asia, the second in the world after the Eiffel Tower of Paris (French engineer Alexandre Gustav Eiffel himself is also rumored to have been involved in the basilica's construction)***  and probably the first pre-fabricated building in the world. It has two open work towers, steel vaulting, an interior repainted to make it appear like faux marble and beautiful stained glass windows. Sitting on a 704-square meter site, the basilica has a central nave 12 meters from the floor to the springing dome and 32 meters to the tip of the spires.

     Inside, on a prominent place above the altar, is the image of Our Lady of  Mount Carmel (Nuestra Senora del Carmen), a gift of the Discalced Carmelite Sisters from the San Jose Monastery in Mexico City, it was brought here in 1617 by Recollect Reverend Father Provincial Rodrigo de San Miguel. The image survived all the earthquakes but unfortunately, it's ivory head was stolen in 1975. Devotion of this image (feast day on 16 July) was propagated in conjiunction with the wearing of the scapular which promised the wearer quich deliverance from purgatory. The sculptures were done by Eusebio Garcia and the paintings by Lorenzo Rocha and Lorenzo Guerrero.

cleverly disguised washer for a rivet

Vaulted ceiling with faux marble glaze

I could stop here, but that would give you an incomplete picture of the massive restoration process that the San Sebastian Foundation is currently undertaking. MASSIVE! According to Ms Tina Paterno, who is knowledgeable in its minutae, it will take at least 10 years to completely restore the San Sebastian church. The tests are currently being undertaken to assess the damages incurred over time by improper upkeep, corrosion and pollution. If you're thinking in terms of longevity, you probably are getting an idea of the time, labor and cost of materials it would need to give San Sebastian a fighting chance for survival. Fortunately, experts in building restoration, engineers, architects, metallurgists, scientists and art restorers have contributed their time pro bono at different stages in the testing. And fortunately, the Kraut stain glass makers of Germany (now headed by a sixth generation family member) are still in operations. 

the dome

dome art work

It was ingenious of the Augustinian Recollects and Don Genaro Palacios to rebuild a church in place of a stone church destroyed by earthquakes. It also came at an opportune time to take advantage of the strides happening during the Industrial Revolution in Europe where steel was used for almost everything, machines, et.al. Belgium was next to England in terms of  industrial development. Ergo, it was cheaper to source the materials from there. It made more sense! It made it easier for them to build higher and taller given the limitations of adobe and mortar. However, on hindsight, they probably did not factor in the amount of precipitation and rainfall a tropical country like ours gets during the monsoon season.

cast iron railing for choir loft

finial detail of cast iron pulpit that was recovered. Stairs are still missing

Once a crack or fissure makes itself evident in its double steel walls, moisture and dampness will set in and oxidation takes place. Rust starts to form and, as we all know, corrosion is irreversible... unstoppable. And this is what took place in San Sebastian's case. There are about 120 plus columns that hold up the church, some exposed as in the fluted interior columns and the exterior where the spires reach up to the sky. There are more columns that are hidden within the double walls. The exterior walls are usually covered in paint and protected from the elements. The portions where the iron sheets meet have a sealant (which probably over time have not been replenished). Over  a period of time rain began to seep in and started the corrosion process. Palliative measures taken to assuage the leaks proved more damaging than curative. Putting cement on a hole on steel spires do not prevent water from seeping in. So some of the buttresses hidden from plain view have accumulated water without notice from anyone. At the same time, the interior walls that have been exposed to rain water and moisture have started corroding; displacing metal sheets out of the bolts that have held them in place for more than a century.

sacrificial lamb painting on the apse

cast iron Pulpit detail

detail of Purgatory vignette band on rosette window in choir loft

Add to that, the artwork that went into decorating the church which were painted on the interior walls. 

The vaulted ceiling was cleverly glazed in paint resembling green marble and the walls with painted images of saints and biblical vignettes are beginning to deteriorate with rust. Tina Paterno points to a figure on the wall and says, she can scrape off the guy's face with a toothbrush! Ooooh, that's how bad it is. There are 173 paintings on the walls... all of them needing immediate attention. Parts of the interior ceilings that have concealed rivets with washers designed as flowers and fluting that hide the rivets in the interior columns are closely being watched for leaks. Some of the glazing from the faux marble have begun to expose the coding of metal sheets that determine which part goes where.

metal sheet coding exposed by corrosion

pulpit detail

the most well-preserved painting

And when I mention this, I did not include the maintenance of the stained glass windows. Despite the dirt and grime accumulated in the past century, the windows have retained its vivid colors. Amazing detailing on the artwork shows facets of mood and emotion of each character. Whimsical features like a Santa hat and clues to the year the church was started show up on some vignettes. Rosette windows remain awe inspiring while the band of frescoes on the choir loft are almost indistinguishable from afar because of dust and dirt.

the yellow band on the hat indicates 1888

rosette window on the choir loft

scourging at the pilar scene on stained glass

As I told my companion Tito Encarnacion,  I will never look at San Sebastian the same way again after learning all of this... It is totally a global undertaking in the latter part of our Spanish colonization: spearheaded by Spanish priests, designed by a Spanish Engineer, Steel from Belgium, technicians stained glass from Germany, artwork and hard labor from Filipinnos. Truly a masterpiece in design and engineering, it is definitely worth saving... Won't you help?

It's not a bridge... it's San Sebastian Church

in honor of  Don Genaro Palacios y Guerra

* A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches

** Tina Paterno has records to show a total of 1,500 tons of steel wer ordered from the foundry in Belgium.

***Communications with a surviving grandson of Eiffel doubts that Gustav Eiffel had anything to do with the design/construction. So ends the myth!