San Agustin Church and Museum
The San Agustin Church and Museum which is a private museum under the supervision of the Augustinian Friars is housed inside the Old Monastery of the Church. The collection include 26 huge oil paintings of saints; the DOn Luis Araneta Collection of Antique Santos; the crypt, where Philippine notables are buried, leads to the refactory with its fine collection of colonial religious art; the Capitualtion Room, where the Spanish surrendered to the Americans in 1898; the Sacristy, which houses antique carrosas, richly embroided vestments, a wonderful Saint Michael; and the famous choir loft handcarved from molave wood that dates back to 1614.
Casa Manila
Is a Colonial Lifestyle Museum shich is a part of Plaza San Luis Comples. The house which is rebuilt replica of the original house that stood on the same site was patterned after a mid-19th century house that stood along Calle de Jaboneros in San Nicolas, Binondo. The house features antique furnitures and furnishinga from China and Europe dating back to the 19th century. Some of the famous collections inside are the crystal chandeliers. Persian rugs, Chinese ceramics, four-poster ebony bed, religious images, antique piano and harp, marble-top tables, and such other items that show the luxury of the era.
National Museum of the Philippines
The National Musem is the official repository and guardian of the Philippine cultural, historical and natural heritage. Created on October 4, 1901 under its old name, the Insular Museum of Ethnology, National History and Commerce. The museum boasts of five (5) divisions, namely: Art, Botany, Zoology, Geology and Antropology.
Manila Cathedral
The seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Manila, is presently the 6th cathedral to rise on the site since 1581. Previous structures were destroyed by typhoons, earthquakes, fire and the last war. Rebuilt on the second half of the 50's through the efforts of architect Fernando Ocampo and Archbishop Rufino J. Santos. The cathedral incorporated the stone carvings and rosette windows of the old cathedral. Stained glass windows celebrating the Christianization of the Philippines light up with its clerestory. Mosaic artwork decorate three of its side chapels.
Central Bank Money Museum
The Central Bank Money Museum was established on January 3, 1974 from the collection in the bank's possession and from the donations of illustrious collectors and dealers. It aims to collect Filipino coins and notes to trace the monetary history of the Philippines and assemble a fine collection of rare and unusual coins from all over the world.
Metropolitan Museum of Manila
The museum showcases oil and acrylic paintings done by various Filipino and international artists. SOme of its collection are borrowed on loan from different museums abroad. These are exhibited in its three (3) galleries: main gallery, long gallery and mezzanine gallery.
Archdiocesan Museum of Manila
In 1987, HIs Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin set up an ecclesistical museum with the theme, "History of the Catholic Church in the Philippines". The collection includes ecclesiastical, liturgical and various antique items.
University of Sto. Thomas Museum of Arts and Sciences
The UST Museum is a private museum under the Board of Trustees of the University, is considered as the largest and most extensive in the Far East. It has 1,500,000 items in its collections which include natural history specimens (zoological and botanical), ecclesiastical and liturgical items most of which are in storage.
Plaza San Luis
Named after one of the old barrios of old Intramuros, this is a cultural-cum-commercial complex currently composed of five houses - Casa Manila, Casa Urdaneta, Casa Blanca, Los Hidalgos and El Hogar Filipino. Plaza Ruis will eventually consist of 9 houses representing different eras in Filipino - Hispanic architecture. Aside from gift and specialty shops, the complex has a museum at Casa Manila, containing late 19th century and early 20th century furniture found in a typical Filipino illustrado or the priviledged class home.
Fort Santiago
Which marks its entrance on the northwestern trip to Intramuros, started in 1571 and completed nearly 150 years later by Filipino forced labor. The pre Spanish settlement of Rajah Sulayman was a wooden fort on the ashes of which was built the Spanish fortress which was Spain's major defense position in the islands. It looked out on the sea, towards which is canons were trained to ward off pirates and invaders. Also known as the "Shrine of Freedom", in memory of the heroic Filipinos imprisoned and killed here during the Spanish and Japanes eras. Partly rebuilt from the ruins of World War II, it is now a park and premonade housing a resident theater company - PETA which has used ramparts, old garison and small chapel, as theaters for both traditional and modern plays.
Rizal Shrine
The restored shrine inside Fort Santiago houses Rizaliana items in memory of the Phiilppines' national hero. Jose RIzal spent his last few days here before he was executed on December 30, 1896. Among the objects exhibited are various books and manuscripts by and about the national hero; sketches, paintings, wood carvings and sculpture done by the hero; paraphernalia and souvenir acquired during his several trips abroad; and a collection of colonial style furniture form his hometown in Calamba, Laguna.
Mabini Shrine
Apolinarion Mabini, the intellectual leader of the Philippine Revolution, lived in this house as a law student, a lawyer and worker who advocated Philippine Independence from Spain. During the American Occupation, it was much frequented by foreign correspondents who found Mabini both interesting and informative and became intellectual headquarters of the first Philippine Republic.
The house was made of bamboo and nipa roof. the floors are polished bamboo slats and the walls are sawali. It is a typical lower middle income family house. The pieces of furnitures in the house are replicas of the originals.
Palacio del Gobernador
Formerly the home of Manuel Estacion de Venegas, a governors' aide, the two-storey structure was expropriated and subsequently made the official residence and office of the Spanish governor-generals in 1654 until an earthquake brought it down in 1863. It lay in ruins for almost a century until the Land Bank of the Philippines built an 8-storey building on the site in 1978. the office of Intramuros Administration is presently housed here.
Plaza Samplucan
The site belonged to a Spanish merchant who became the paramour of Governor General Alonso Fajardo's wife in 1621. Legend has it that the house in this plaza was their trysting place, shunned as a place of sin and and demolished after their deaths at the hands of the cuckolded official. Tamarind trees spontaneously grew on the spot which, which according to many, is the symbol of their bitter-sweet love affair.
Malacanang Palace
Seat of the head of Government of the Philippines since Spanish times; officially stands on the northbank of the Pasig river whose beauty has been said in legend and in song.
Malacanang, from the vernacular "May Lakan Diyan" meaning "There lives a noble man," was built in the 18th century as a recreation villa for a Spanish aristocrat Luis Rocha. In 1825, the Spanish government bought the palace for P5,000.00 thus turned it into a summer house of governor generals. The earthquake which brought down the Palacio del Gobernador in Intra-muros officially designated Mala-canang Palace as the permanent seat of the Head of State.
San Agustin Church
The oldest stone chruch in Metro Manila dates back to 1571. An intricately
carved door opens to the church of great interest are the Baroque pulpit, molave
choir stalls and an 18th century pipe organ. Like an impregnable fortress, San
Agustin has withstood the ravages of time both wrought by nature and by man:
earthquakes and typhoons, Chinese and Dutch attacks, the British Occupation
Force and the Philippine-Spanish War, Dewey's bombardment and the bloody and
destructive Japanese Occupation and the equally devastating return of
MacArthur's troops.
The foremost outdoor recreational area is Rizal Park, with a Japanese garden, a Chinese garden, an open-air theatre, a playground, a grandstand, and a long promenade adjacent to Manila Bay. Other areas include the Manila Zoological and Botanical Gardens, the Mehan Garden, and Paco Park. Athletic facilities include the Rizal Memorial Stadium and the Jai-Alai Fronton, both located in Manila, and the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. Annual festivals and carnivals are held in the sunken garden fronting the City Hall of Manila.
