San Sebastian Church (Manila)
14.599444120.988889Koordinaten: 14 ° 36 'N, 120 ° 59 ' E
The Basílica de San Sebastián is a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church in the capital of the Philippines, Manila. She stands at the Plaza del Cármen, at the eastern end of Claro M. Recto Street, in Quiapo district. Maintained it is of the Order of Augustinian Recollects in the Province of the Order of St. Ezekiel Moreno. The Basilica was declared by former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1973 to the National Heritage of the Philippines. Since 2006, she is on the short list of the Philippines for inclusion in the World Heritage List of UNESCO.
The Basílica de San Sebastián is the only religious building in Asia, which was built entirely of steel in the neo-Gothic style. Architect of the basilica was the Spaniard Genero Palacios. On construction companies from Belgium, Germany and the Philippines were involved.
History
The basilica had three predecessors. The first dates from 1621, he was funded by Don Bernardino Castillo. It was built a wooden church, which has been destroyed by an earthquake in 1651. The next church building dates from 1800. It was built of stone and inaugurated in 1850. At the big earthquake of 1859 but was destroyed again. The next attempt began in 1880, but was canceled in the same year, after an earthquake had destroyed the already constructed bell tower.
Then sought the commissioned by the religious priest Esteban Martinez for a way to build an earthquake-and fire- safe building. He found her in the developed by Gustave Eiffel in Europe cantilevered truss structure made of metal. Eiffel had in 1875 worked out a design for a cathedral of steel, but found no authority for this plan. Eiffel's design principles and his design of the steel cathedral was the model for the construction of the Basilica de San Sebastián.
Architecture
The executive architect Genero Palacios had already gained experience in the then new construction in Spain. He created an architectural design featuring various style elements contained: in neo-Gothic style of the exterior was designed in the baroque style of the interior. The construction drawings for the building were completed in 1883. However, it took another five years until the needed funds purchased and the suppliers were selected for the building material. Construction of the basilica began in 1888 and ended in 1891 with the inauguration on the 15th of August.
For the interior Filipino artists were involved. The stained glass windows are from the German company stained glass Oidtmann. The steel elements were manufactured in Belgium by the Société Anonyme des Entreprises de Travaux Publiques in its steel plant in Binche and transferred into nine shiploads to Manila. The marble used for interior design comes from the island group of Romblonen. There you will find a total of six marble baptismal font in the basilica.
Restoration
The Basílica de San Sebastián was restored in 1982 by experts of the National Historical Museum of the Philippines. Because of the warm and humid climate on the island of Luzon, the repair work to protect the steel structure are very complex and need to be repeated at short intervals. With the constant lack of money the owner and the lack of support of the state the necessary repair work in the 1990s could not be performed, so that the basilica was declared in 1998 by UNESCO as one of the 100 most endangered monuments in the world. Then the Order of Augustinian Recollects could obtain the necessary funding through donations and the maintenance and repair of the Basilica finance.