THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Magsingal is one of the few towns of Ilocandia which can boast of a genuine church built by the Spaniards with the sweat and blood of the townspeople. The present church however, was not the first one to be constructed by them. According to the old people, the first church was a temporary building built by the first cura parruco, an Augustinia friar, Padre Juan Sanches, who arrived in Magsingal on January 10, 1723. In 1730, the construction of the old church ( now Magsingal Museum and Park) was began. It was finished in 1761. During the Ilocos Revolt the church was burned down together with several churches in Ilocos Sur by Diego Silang. The ruins of the church still remain and from this history could be retraced.
The church had three floor sections for social qualification. The front area had bricks and red tiles flooring. It was for the exclusive use of the “Apo Bacnang” who could give money and good breakfast for the Spanish priests. The middle portion and lower elevation was made of wood planks (boards). It was for the regular or middle class. The rear area had the lowest floor elevation and it was all dirt. It was for the “Los Torpes” or the Indios. The ruins have been converted to a park but these sections mentioned are still there.
The present was constructed in 1827 while the church belfry which is 30 meters high was constructed in 1832. The church is very famous for its magnificent Baroque Snomonic Altar Retable and its incomparable pulpit. Local visitors as well as international, tourists, ambassadors, ministers, and high government officials flock daily to Magsingal to see the most beautiful retable in the Philippines. The most unique in the world according to a lady anthropologist from Rome and a consensus of statement from International Church Art Collectors.
The retable is a total seascape. Two nude mermaids guard the topmost niche of St. William the Hermit, the town’s patron saint. The mermaid on the left is on the family way. The clamshell tops the whole retable and the ceiling of the niches are in clamshell form. On the sides are sea horses in their classical design. Just above the sea horses are big waves with moderate forms of starfishes on their hold accented with smaller waves. There is no doubt that the man who did the rare carving, a certain Pablo Tamayo was very talented. He was a fisherman. The design was however,, made by Juan Nepumoceno Tolentino. These two natives of Magsingal made the church rare pulpit too.
The last Spanish priest of Magsingal was Fr. Jose Vasquez. He stayed in the town from 1863 to 1898. When the Katipuneros came to the town, he fled together with the other Spaniards to Ilocos Norte on August 15, 1898. This ended the Spanish rule in Magsingal, but the church they built will remain as a memento of their stay in the town.
THE MUSEUM AND BELFRY
The ancient belfry of massive construction of Magsingal, Ilocos Sur was built in February 16, 1732. Magnificently over the town projects an image of antiquity of its Castillan forebears creating nostalgic feeling of the remnants of the past of more than four centuries. Behind the majestic 30-meter tall old belfry is another edifice which was once the rectory of the friar parish priest built simultaneously with the church in 1676. Owing to the strong foundation of bricks, lime, and stone wrought with hard labor by the residents of the town it had withstood disastrous calamities of fires and earthquakes. The old rectory was converted into a school building that house the special training course during the early American regime. And during the Spanish occupation, the building serves as an interment residence in Magsingal because of the murdered Japanese Captain.
It was not until the country plagued with the culture fever that the then Secretary of Education Juan Manuel directed the Division Superintendent of Ilocos Sur in 1977 to vacate the building and turned it over to the Museum authorities to house the antique collections and artifacts of the past indigenous to the culture traditions and industries of the Ilocanos which dates back during the colonial period..
Preserving the industries, culture and ethnic tradition of the Ilocos came about and greatly enhanced during the incumbency of the then first Lady Governor of Ilocos Sur Carmeling Pichay Crisologo which withsheer courage and determination envision the National acceptance of the Ilocanos as a very distinguish ethnic group of Filipinos with a very enviable characteristic of their own as frugal, industrious, peace loving and hospitable people.
The Museum formally inaugurated in October 28, 1982 with the Museum authorities and the Governor of Ilocos Sur, Honorable Luis ‘Chavit” Singson.
Magsingal Branch Museum
Brief History
The Magsingal Museum in Ilocos Sur was formerly a convent of Spanish architecture built in 1676. Restored and transformed into a museum in October 1982, the Magsingal Museum showcases the material culture of Northern Luzon. A short distance from this museum is the P Burgos House, birthplace of Filipino priest patriot Fr. Jose Burgos. The P Burgos House was turned over to the National Museum in January 1989. It exhibits the collections depicting the cultural development of Vigan and the memorabilia of Fr. Burgos and his family. Some of the highlights of the collections are the priceless 14-piece Villanueva paintings depicting the famed Basi Revolt of 1807, some religious images, Vienna furniture and ‘ other period pieces and heirlooms, antique collections of ethnographic and archaeological objects revealing the colorful Ilocano past.
The branch museum is situated behind a centuries-old belfry that towers magnificently over the town of Magsingal, Ilocos Sur. Magsingal was founded by the Spanish colonizer, Capt. Juan de Salcedo, who worked for the conversion of the Itnegs, the first inhabitants of the place, to Christianity.
The museum was once the rectory of the parish priest and was built simultaneously with the church in 1676. Its strong foundation of bricks, lime and stone withstood disastrous calamities like fire, typhoons and earthquakes. The old rectory was converted into a school building during the early American regime. During the Japanese occupation, the museum served as an interment for the residents of Magsingal when a Japanese captain was murdered. In 1977, then Secretary of Education Juan Manuel directed the Division School Superintendent of Ilocos Sur to vacate the building and turn it into a museum that would house the antique collections and artifacts of Magsingal.
The Magsingal branch museum is among the first branch museums established to meet the Department of Education’s goal of establishing more local and regional museums all over the country. The museum stands on a 1,170 square meter lot donated by the municipality of Magsingal on October 6, 1986. It was formally opened to the public in October 1982.
Agrimat Magsingal 