Commonly known as the St. Anne Parish, Molo Church is opposite the town plaza. Molo is one of the seven districts of Iloilo City, formerly called Parian (Chinatown), because the residents here were mostly Chinese. Then, it was changed into Moro because of the frequent arrival of Muslim pirates from Mindanao, but it later evolved into this name – Wikipedia.com.
History of Molo Church:
- It was built in 1831 by the Ilonggo artists, and it is proof that the residents are really great in terms of arts.
- This church has Gothic-Renaissance architecture and is the only one outside Manila.
- It is made from coral stones with egg whites mixed with sand for some parts.
- On August 4, 1886, Dr. Jose Rizal visited Manila from exile in Dapitan to pray and see the gorgeous paintings (today, they no longer exist).
Dome is always part of many old churches in the world. Look at the dome in this church; it's like the dome of the St. Peter Basilica in Vatican City. By the way, this church survived from different calamities because of its sturdy structure. Also, it served as an evacuation center for civilians during World War II. In 1992, the National Historical Institute declared it as a National Landmark. READ: My Solo-Backpacking in Negros Occidental and Ilo-Ilo
