A SHORT HISTORY AND GUIDE TO INTRAMUROS

Written and compiled by Esperanza Bunag Gatbonton

The Cuidad Morada or Intramuros of Manila is located at the mouth of the Pasig
River. It was the Spanish quarter and seat of colonial government. The City of Manila
was officially founded on June 24, 1571 and a Royal Decree handed down in 1574
conferred on it the title—"Insigne e siempre leal Cuidad de Manila."

During the first days of conquest, the city was confined to the original settlement
of the ousted Rajah Sulayman, which encompassed more or less the inner quarters of Fort
Santiago. Later, the entire city covered some 60 hectares of land and 6 hectares of moat,
ringed with stone fortress some four kilometers long.

From Adelantado Miguel López de Legazpi up until 1872, during the troubled
rule of Governor-General Rafael de Izquierdo, that saw the execution of the martyred
priests Mariano Gómes, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zámora, each of the governor general
sought to improve the walls to protect the Spanish holdings within. Once its enclosure
was secured, much attention was given to the city interior. The Spanish historian, Dr.
Antonio de Morga (1595-1603), who served as lieutenant to the Governor and judge of
the Royal Audiencia, describes the city’s layout:

It occupies the same site where Rajamora [Sulayman] had his settlement and fort.
The whole site was occupied by this new settlement and Legazpi apportioned it to the
Spaniards in equal building-lots. It was laid out with well-arranged streets and
squares, straight and level. A sufficiently large main square square [Plaza Mayor] was
left, fronting which was erected the cathedral church and municipal buildings. He left
another square, that of arms [Plaza de Armas], fronting which was built the fort, as
well as the royal buildings. He gave sites for the monasteries, hospitals and chapels
which were to be built, as being a city which was to grow continually….

The Walled City, more commonly known as Intramuros, had eight gates; two of
the loveliest ones—Fort Santiago and Santa Lucía—were badly damaged by American

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tanks during the Liberation of Manila in 1945; they have been restored in the 1980s. The
Pacific War leveled most of Intramuros leaving only 5% of the city structures; the walls
lost 40% to the bombings. The main street of Intramuros is Calle Real, renamed General
Luna, after the revolutionary general Antonio Luna. Located on the left side of the street
is the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, the former site of Colegio de San José ran by
the Jesuits until their expulsion in 1768. Further down, still on the left side of the road, is
the San Agustín Church, the oldest church in the Philippines, built in 1571. It suffered
several destructions from fire and earthquake and war; the present church was rebuilt in
1587 and finished in1604.

Directly opposite, on the right side of the street, is the “San Luis Complex” or
"Casa Manila," a museum that showcases the recreated interiors of a typical house
belonging to affluent families of colonial Manila. Still farther down to the right is the
Manila Cathedral. The heavy bombing and shelling of Intramuros during its Liberation
from Japanese forces destroyed the structure. The present church, the sixth construction,
was built from 1954-1958. The first wooden structure erected in 1581 was destroyed by
fire; the next structure was blown off by a typhoon; the four stone buildings that were
constructed thereafter collapsed during major earthquakes that occurred in 1600; 1645;
and 1863.

Fronting the Cathedral is Plaza Mayor now called Plaza Roma. On it stands the
statue of King Carlos IV that was erected in 1824 to honor his decree introducing
vaccination against smallpox to the Philippines. To the left of Plaza Roma is the site of
the Palacio del Gobernador that was demolished by the earthquake of 1863. It was never
rebuilt. The construction of the present high-rise building used as government offices
caused the creation of the Intramuros Administration in 1979. It was considered a
violation of the city charter to allow a structure to rise higher than the cathedral.

To the right of Plaza Roma lay the ruins of the Casas Consistoriales (Municipal
Halls), also known as the Ayuntamiento or Cabildo (City Council). It was built in 1738
but was demolished by the earthquake of 1863. Its reconstruction was completed in 1884.

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During the American and Commonwealth Periods, the building was used as offices of the
Bureau of Justice and Supreme Court.

Across the Street is Fort Santiago. The outer plaza, called Plaza de Armas or
Plaza Moriones, was designated as parade and drill grounds. The moat was added by
Santiago de Vera, governor general from 1584-1590. He also added the stone
breastworks along the riverside. An arched entryway with a relief carving of Santiago de
Matamoros dominates the inner fort. Other governors continued to improve its defenses
so that it is probably the best laid out portion of the Walls. The Batería de Santa Barbara
overlooks both the river and the sea; immediately below is Bastión de San Lorenzo a
bombproof storage for artillery and munitions. To the right, steps lead to a dank and
narrow dungeon by riverside used as a prison. Within this complex, the National Hero,
José Rizal, was imprisoned in a cell. The poem "Mi Ultimo Adios" was written here and
hidden in a lamp that was later turned over to one of his sisters. From here, leaving by
Postigo Gate located just behind the Palacio del Gobernador, he was taken out to
Bagumbayan where he was executed.

The restored gates are Puerta del Parian, Puerta Santa Lucia, Puerta Real and
Puerta Isabel. The Parian Gate was the busiest entryway to Intramuros. Tradesmen and
merchants passed here with their wares. It was also the most heavily guarded and armed
with several cannons because the Chinese Parian was located just across the moat.
Chinese uprisings in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were frequent. Former
Governor-General Luis Pérez Dasmariñas was killed in one of the bloodiest uprising in
1603; his father, Governor General Gómez Perez Dasmariñas was killed by Chinese
mutineers on the way to Ternate in 1593.

The stretch of wall on this part of the Parian was built sometime in 1593.
Extensive work on this part of the Wall was carried out at the time of Governor Sabíniáno
Manrique de Lara (1653-1663), who built a proper gate for this section of the wall. The
Parian Gate at the time of Manrique de Lara had a drawbridge supported by stone
pilasters and closed with a portcullis. It was topped with a dormer with loopholes for
muskets. The extant part of the Parian Gate uncovered during its restoration in 1979,

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carries the changes introduced by Engineer Tomás Sanz (1784) on the Parian, in
particular the design of the gate itself: the pillars are of the Doric Order with pilasters,
arches and the mix use of bricks for the dome and adobe for the walls.

The Parian Gate is flanked by Bastión de San Gabriel and Bastión de Dilao. The
last gate built was that of Isabel in 1861. It is made up of vaulted chambers that were
used to munitions and to house soldiers who guarded its entrance. A statue of Queen
Isabela II sits on the lawn facing the Pasig River. This statue was made by a Spanish
sculptor and was originally located at Liwasang Bonifacio in front of the Manila Post
Office. But Governor-General Carlos María de la Torre, an antiroyalist had it removed
and for some years it was stored in a storeroom of a Portuguese citizen, then transferred
for safekeeping at the Ayuntamiento. In 1896, the statue was “resurrected” and installed
in front of the Malate Church. A typhoon knocked it down in 1970; it was transferred to
its present site in 1974.

Bastión de San Andrés is located right in front of the Recollect Church, which is
now occupied by the Manila Bulletin. During Pérez Dasmariñas' term it was no higher
than a breastwork. The original part of the Bastión that remains is the powder magazine
built in 1733. Supposedly bombproof, it was reached through a ramp past the guardhouse
and down a short flight of steps to a narrow low door. A small lookout tower rises above
the Municipal Golf Links. This garita is fully rounded in contrast to that of Bastión de
San Gabriel, which was multi-faceted. A guardhouse overlooking the street used to
guard the entrance to the powder magazine. This Bastión is the main line of defense for
Puerta Real.

Puerta Real Gate was upgraded during the time of Manrique de Lara, getting and
additional quadrangular bulwark mounted with four cannons. The City was preparing for
an attack by the Chinese Koxinga, but his sudden death spared the City from a bloody
attack as that launched by the Chinese pirate Limahong in 1574. This almost crippled the
defenses of the city. A gold plated bronze statue of Carlos II once stood at this gate. The
English attack in 1762 damaged this gate badly. It was remodeled by Engineer Miguel
Antonio Gómez, who lowered the gate and made it narrower. Carriages could not longer

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passed through this gate and had to use the Parian Gate. The inscription above the Gate
dates back to 1780, commemorating its reconstruction during the term of Governor-
General José Basco y Vargas.

To the left of Gate is Bastíon de San Diego, which is in the southern most flank of
the Walled City, overlooking Manila Bay. This is the original Fort Nuestra Señora de
Guia, whose construction was supervised by the Jesuit Father Antonio Sedeño in 1587. It
was later incorporated into the Walls by Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas before1593,
connecting it to Bastión de San José and Puerta Real. What remained of the original
structure that was built during the time of Governor-General Santiago de Vera and Father
Sedeño are the outer circular structure and the casemates with the original apertures that
allowed the Spanish soldiers to fire their rifles from this location. These structures were
excavated in the 1980 during its restoration. It was later converted into a cistern. Nearby
is the location of the Indio cannon maker, Panday Pira.

Nearby is the Gate of Santa Lucía, contemporaneous to the rebuilt Puerta Real of
Basco’s time. It is dedicated again to King Carlos III, who "caused the Gate to be built
for the advantage and decoration of the City." It has two side chambers that one
equipped with steps leading to a dungeon like cell that served as a septic tank. It leads
out to a tiny plaza through a bridge lined with flagstones. It was rebuilt in the 1980's by
the Intramuros Administration.