Wikimapia is a multilingual open-content collaborative map, where anyone can create place tags and share their knowledge.

Baluarte de San Diego (Manila)

Philippines / National Capital Region / Manila
 tower, military, place with historical importance, archaeological site, fortification, interesting place, bastion (fortification part)
Bastión de San Diego: Named after St. James the Great (aka San Iago, Santiago). Probably built around an older fortification erected by Sedeño in the late 16th century, named Nuestra Señora de Guia (Our Lady of Guidance) after a hermitage and church in Ermita, which it faced.. Presently, the bastion is an archaelogical site where three rings of stone connected by crossways were unearthed. Most opine that one of these rings was Sedeño’s fort. It is known that the fort was integrated into the Bastion between 1591-94 when Gov. Perez de Dasmariñas built the stone perimeter of the City of Manila.

Also known as Barbette San Diego. Shaped like the 'ace of spades' this structure was built by the Spanish and used as a foundry. During WWII it was mostly destroyed. Today, it is walkable as ruins. Photo from PacificWrecks.com.
 Add place (company, shop, etc.) to this building
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluarte_de_San_Diego
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   14°35'7"N   120°58'32"E

Comments

  • marc (guest)
    This is taken from the brochure: When Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi occupied Rajah Sulayman's settlement in 1571, a wooden fortress evolved from that tongue of land bounded by the Pasig River and Manila Bay. The need for defense from the bayside became urgent after the attack of Chinese pirates led by Limahong in 1574. The first stone fort in Manila was planned by Gov. Gen. Santiago de Vera, who thought that a tower would best serve the purpose. Fr. Antonio Sedeño, SJ, who had some knowledge of military architecture, was assigned to oversee the project. Fort Nuestra Señora de Guia was to be 3 tiers of circular walls, with the outer tier 28ft high, 12ft thick at the bottom, & 4ft thick at the top. Built from 1586-7, the tower threatened to collapse as it got higher. With the appointment of Gov. Gen. Gomez Perez Dasmariñas in 1590, the wooden fortress of Maynilad was reconstructed in stone. In 1593, the upper portion of the tower was demolished, and the rest was integrated into the new stone bulwark - the Baluarte de San Diego. Completed sometime between 1653-1663, the new fortification was shaped like an ace of spades. Baluarte de San Diego was breached by British Forces in 1762. It was restored and strengthened when the Spaniards returned, but was damaged and abandoned after the 1863 Earthquake. The 1945 Battle for Manila destroyed whatever remained of the structure. The circular fort was forgotten until excavation was done in 1979 by the Intramuros Administration and the National Museum. The stone fort was unearthed and the Baluarte was restored by 1992. Fort Nuestra Señora de Guia is currently maintained as an archaeological site. The gardens and pergola were added to make the Baluarte more appealing to visitors and more suitable for special events. It is open to the public (P75.00 entrance fee, 8:00am-5:00pm), but may be rented for private functions. The area is managed by the Intramuros Administration, an attached agency of the Department of Tourism.
This article was last modified 5 years ago