In our #MuseumFromHome series, this week’s feature of our #BuiltTraditionThursday is the Capilla de San Pancracio (Chapel of St. Pancratius), colloquially known as the Old La Loma Cemetery Chapel, in the Camposanto de La Loma (La Loma Cemetery) in Caloocan City. This declared cultural treasure is one of Manila’s oldest standing structures, with the 19th century chapel along with the cemetery in which it resides having survived the devastation wrought on the capital during World War II, which mournfully razed many of Old Manila’s architecture.

The Capilla de San Pancracio traces its origins to August 30, 1864, when the Spanish colonial government of the Philippines approved the establishment of a new cementerio general to mitigate the lack of space in the Paco Cemetery and to accommodate the growing population of Manila and its vicinities (Ramos, 2019). This proposed new cemetery would become the Camposanto de La Loma in 1884, wherein the Capilla stands (Ramos, 2019). The Capilla and its site and setting are notable for surviving the infrastructural destruction brought about by the 1945 Battle of Manila in World War II, thus becoming the oldest extant funerary chapel and cemetery grounds in Manila (NMP, 2017).

Architecturally, the Capilla is a single storeybuilding, located at the Southern side of the La Loma Cemetery. The structure has a building foot print of around four hundred and eighty-five (485) square meters, oriented on a generally north-south axis with a slight tilt to the northeast. It measures thirty-seven and six-tenths (37.60) meters in length and twelve and six-tenths (12.60) meters in width. The Capilla is cruciform in plan, with slight transepts found in the upper/further section of the shaft, in the Latin-cross configuration. In accordance with typical early Christian church architecture found in the country, the plan is laid out with a long, simple, single nave, enhanced by an octagonal dome over the crossing. The sanctuary and main altarpieces are at the end of the nave, and directly behind is the sacristy. The architectural interior also features a series of four sweeping arches which support the dome and bounds the intersection of the nave and transepts (Jose, 1991).

In terms of structure, the Capilla is made primarily of adobe (or volcanic tuff) blocks, cut and formed. The main walls are supported externally by massive stone buttresses characteristic of Philippine colonial church architecture as a measure to withstand earthquakes and raids (Jose, 1991), with each buttress alternating with large windows to allow light to enter the aisle and transepts. The Capilla is also furnished with intricate and detailed ornamentation, with elaborate detailing on its main door, and adorning its fenestration and cornices. It also features a metal gate of curly grillwork flanked by two white-painted lion statues, while on both sides of the façade are statues of two saints. 

The Capilla de San Pancracio is in a relatively fair state of conservation and maintenance despite its long disuse. There is overgrowth and vegetation present along most of its edifices, but the structure of the chapel remains enduring, with only a minimal area of its stone construction showing signs of wear. The extant carved ornamentations in the interior and exterior of the chapel, distinct in the structure, also remain in good condition. While there were interventions introduced to the property, such as the addition of toilet facilities abutting the northeastern façade, these were found to be reversible and have since been removed.

Owing to its survival of the destruction of the Battle of Manila in 1945 and all the numerous calamities that came before and after it that shook the capital to its foundations, the Capilla de San Pancracio is a crucial, enduring remnant of a bygone era of the country’s architectural cultural heritage. In recognition of the building’s significance, the chapel was declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines in 2017, and is currently undergoing restoration and preservation efforts through a partnership of the Diocese of Caloocan and the Escuella Taller de Filipinas Foundation, to retain the Capilla’s intrinsic glory for future generations (Adel, 2021).

Text and illustrations/photos by Ar. Armando Arciaga III, AABHD

In the continuing observance of #Undas2021, for this week’s #TrowelTuesday let us look at the burial goods interred together with the dead in the archaeological setting.

Grave goods or furniture, burial goods, or pabaon are materials interred with the dead as part of our local mortuary tradition observed since the Neolithic Period (3000-500 Before Common Era or BCE). These materials were presumed to be buried with the dead as gifts to the ancestors or gods, as provisions, or as means to repel evil on their journey to the afterlife. The use of burial goods and the manner of interment were seen as a symbol of prestige and status of the deceased and of those who buried them.

Some examples of excavated grave goods include local potteries, tradeware ceramics, tools made from various materials, spindle whorls, barkcloth beaters, and ornaments. Early forms and types of grave goods were locally manufactured, such as local pottery, ornaments, and tools made from stone, clay, and shell. As time progressed, more items that originated outside the Philippines were observed among burial sites. Foreign objects such as glass and stone beads, iron tools, stoneware, and porcelain were extensively recovered in various burial sites across the country.

In Santa Ana, Manila, pre-colonial burials dating from the 11th to 14th century were excavated in the 1960s. Burials were interred with rich grave goods consisting of Chinese ceramics from the Sung and Yuan dynasties, earthenware, coins, glass beads, and metal implements and ornaments (https://tinyurl.com/QingpaiPorcelainBoatFigurine). 

Various sites in Calatagan, Batangas have been excavated since the 1940s, which yielded more than 1,000 burials dating around the 15th century. While the most common burial goods were earthenware vessels and foreign ceramics from China, Vietnam, and Thailand, spindle whorls, ornaments, iron implements, and shells were also present in the burial assemblages.

Early historic period burials were unearthed in the municipality of Boljoon in Cebu, dating back to the 16th to 17th century. Grave goods recovered from the site included Chinese and Japanese ceramics, iron tools, earthenware vessels and sherds, gold ornaments, glass beads, and worked bone artifacts (https://tinyurl.com/BoljoonBurials).

An increasing pattern of complexity in the burial goods was observed on sites across different periods. For example, while there was a general contrast of burials with richer grave goods and those with little to no burial goods during the Metal Age (500 BCE to 1st century), the burials during the Protohistoric Period (9th century to 1521) were much more stratified. 

The #NationalMuseumPH is open for public viewing, following the IATF guidelines for Alert Level 2 in Metro Manila. Reserve a slot for your upcoming visit and explore our collections and exhibitions through this website.

#BurialGoods

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Text by Sherina Aggarao and posters by Timothy James Vitales | NMP Archaeology Division

© National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

This week on #MaritimeMonday highlights two incense burners from the Santa Cruz shipwreck. The vessel carried predominantly Chinese stoneware and porcelain ceramics, and limited amounts of Thai, Vietnamese and Burmese/Myanmar stoneware. The non-ceramic items include iron, glass, wood, and stone objects, as well as organic remains. For more information about the Santa Cruz shipwreck, please see https://tinyurl.com/SantaCruzShipwreck.

Among the recovered materials were two remarkable stoneware animal figurines in the form of a deer and an ox, used as incense burners. These are high-fired, green-glazed stoneware pieces with stamped circular incisions on their bodies and supported by circular pedestals. Their tubes for the incense or possibly candle sticks are mounted at the back of the animals. They were initially identified to have been produced by the Si Satchanalai kilns in Thailand, but recent excavations in the kilns in present-day Twante Township, Yangon region in Myanmar proved otherwise. The incense burners, along with the celadon dishes also produced by the Twante kilns that were also part of the Santa Cruz cargo, are significant. These give direct material evidence of Myanmar’s engagement with foreign trade during the 15th and early 16th centuries Common Era that was not evident in extant historical records.

The #NationalMuseumPH is now open to the public but visits are by appointment through this website. Monitor our social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for further announcements. In the meantime, you may watch the virtual tour of the upgraded ‘300 Years of Maritime Trade in the Philippines’ exhibition here: https://tinyurl.com/300YearsOfMaritimeTradePH

#IncenseBurner

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Poster and text by the Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division

Photos © Christoph Gerigk © Franck Goddio/Far Eastern Foundation for Nautical Archaeology

© National Museum of the Philippines (2021)