Saturday, September 29, 2012

Iloilo : Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral

Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
With a few hours to spare before my flight back to Manila, I spent those hours wandering around Iloilo City proper. It is my first time here eventhough just in-trasitu, so it is a good idea to check out the place.
Jesus Takes The Wheel

Beautiful Ceiling Art

The Jaro subburb is located north of Iloilo proper. It is barely five minutes via jeepney ride from the downtown. It is home to a number of ancestral homes and impressive churches including the oldest church of Panay - The Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral. It was built in 1864 and was visited by Pope John Paul VI who conducted a mass in 1982.
Artful Interiors
Domed Ceiling
Its patron saint is The Lady of the Candles known also as Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria. The 400-year-old shrine of the Lady of the Candles is perched on a glass encased shrine carved out of the facade and can be seen face-to face via climbing the Cathedral's front steps.
In Memoriam
Jaro Cathedral Belfry
Across the Church is Jaro's Belfry Plaza dominated by the Belfry Tower, a lonely old figure standing high and handsome on the edge of the square. On the center is the statue of Rizal with its hand pointing to high heavens.
Rizal in the Park

8 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful church, wonderful blue skies and a terrific capture, Oman! Enjoy your weekend!!

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  2. This is one beautiful Church. Iloilo has lots of them specially the one in Miag-ao.

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  3. incredible church murals. a few hours is enough to visit a place; then you know if you want to repeat visiting it and exploring more places.

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  4. I have passed by this church several times but I wasn't able to enter. Tsk tsk. Next time, I will put this in mind.

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  5. The facade looks nice but the interiors looks even nicer.

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  6. Proud Ilongga here.

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  7. alam mo, around this time nasa Iloilo rin ako for a 3-day business trip.

    #alaws-lang

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