City streets,  History,  Monday walks,  Philippines,  Street photography

Wanderings in Vigan

April 23, 2025 / 40 Comments

The colonial city of Vigan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for good reason. It is one of the few Spanish colonial towns in the Philippines to remain relatively intact. Its unique architecture fuses native Filipino and Oriental building styles with more typical colonial Spanish features.

While not all of its old buildings are in the best condition, especially outside the heritage district, I found their varying states of decay only increased the sense of the past as I wandered its streets, in comparison with other more ‘manicured’ colonial towns.

As well as visiting the twin museums of the Father Burgos House and the Old Carcel in Vigan, we spent plenty of time exploring the city. On our first day there our guide Jezzy introduced us to some of the main sights, while on the second we explored on our own. We revisited some places we saw with her and also wandered some of the back streets, soaking up the atmosphere of this likeable town.

This Monday Walk is mainly based on that second day in the city, but some of the photos were taken on the first. That should explain any discrepancies in weather conditions, angle of the light and so on!

Almost all Spanish colonial towns and cities, wherever they were in the world, conform to what is known as the Ley de las Indias, the Law of the Indies. This dictated that streets should be laid out as a grid, at the centre of which should be a plaza. Around this plaza were located the key buildings that governed life in the city, both secular (government buildings) and spiritual (the cathedral and archbishop’s palace). Vigan is no exception to this, so we will start our walk in its main plaza.

Plaza Salcedo

This large open space is named after the Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo. It was he who subdued the early native settlement here and established on the site a town he named Villa Fernandina in 1572, the third of many Spanish colonial settlements in the Philippines.

Although the plaza’s name still commemorates a conqueror, its monuments today celebrate Filipino heroes. At the western end is a statue of Elpido Quirino, the country’s sixth president, who was born in the nearby jail where his father was warden. And at the opposite end stands José Rizal, the writer and national hero whose museum we had visited in Fort Santiago in Manila.

Various colourful monuments around the plaza celebrate the city and surrounding region, Ilocos Sur.

And around the perimeter daily life goes on, with fast food restaurants, a food market and the city hall on the south side, other government buildings on the west, and a school in the north-east corner (occupying part of the archbishop’s palace). Colourful tricycles (motorcycles with a sidecar) are parked in every available spot while their drivers wait for business, enjoying a cigarette and a chat with friends.

At night Plaza Salcedo is transformed. The large pool in the centre (added in the 1970s to store water to help protect against fire) has a complex network of fountains which perform in a colourful fifteen minute musical ‘dance’ twice each evening. Bleacher style seating provides good views all around the pool but our guide Jezzy, always keen to go the extra mile, secured a prime position on a roof terrace on the north side of the square.

Metropolitan Cathedral of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle

The cathedral is on the east side of the plaza. It was badly damaged by the earthquake of July 2022, and we found it apparently closed for restoration and/or safety reasons, although some reports online suggest that it remains partially open. It was hard to take photos because of all the scaffolding but the statues of saints around the perimeter made for much better shots.

The original church building here was a simple wood and thatch chapel, replaced by a stone church in 1641. This was damaged by earthquake in 1619 and 1627, while a third church was burned in 1739. In 1758 it was elevated to the status of a cathedral, so this much larger replacement structure was designed to take the place of the church. It was started in 1790 and completed ten years later.

The cathedral has a separate bell tower topped by a rooster, which was also badly damaged by the earthquake and was scaffolded when we were in Vigan.

Plaza Burgos

Unusually, Vigan has a second plaza adjacent to the main one, running along the southern side of the cathedral. This is named for Padre Jose Burgos, the priest who campaigned for the full incorporation of Filipino priests into the Catholic hierarchy in the country and was executed in 1872.

The north side of the plaza is fully occupied by the side of the cathedral while on others are businesses such as banks, restaurants and a hotel. Our favourite restaurant, Café Leona, had a ringside seat of the night time activity here which reminded me of the Italian passeggiata. Locals and tourists mingle as they come out to stroll around in the relatively cooler air.

Calle Crisologo

The main thoroughfare in Vigan is Calle Crisologo, a pedestrianised street running south from Plaza Burgos through the heart of the old city. It is lined with shops (mostly selling souvenirs), cafés and a couple of hotels, all located in traditional buildings constructed in the local style, with that fusion of native Filipino, Oriental and colonial Spanish.

Vigan’s back streets

The streets that lead off Calle Crisologo or run parallel to it are also lined with the typical local buildings, although not all in a great state of repair. I was drawn to this ‘unpolished’ look. The less manicured appearance was in some ways a welcome contrast to the colourful and more restored Spanish colonial cities we have visited elsewhere, such as Mexico and Colombia.

The traditional features to look for include stone lower and wooden upper floors, capiz shell windows in small squares, decorative ventilation holes in the eaves which keep the buildings cooler in the hot Vigan climate, and plenty of ornate metalwork. I spotted a few shops selling old windows, for instance, suggesting that locals were actively trying to restore and preserve these old features.

Naturally I was also on the lookout for the small details I love to photograph, such as the interesting street signs that mark out the historic district, and the features that demonstrate the deep Roman Catholic faith of many Filipinos.

And I’ll finish with some images of the people of Vigan (some of whom you may already have seen in black and white) as of course I also indulged in some street photography on our walks here. Plus a dog, just because …

I visited Vigan in February 2025

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