Vigan
Vigan is located in the northeastern part of Luzon. It was founded as a trading town in 1572 by the Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo
It now is the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia, including the historical checkerboard street plan.
Vigan differs from Spanish colonial towns in Latin America because its Latin tradition is tempered by strong Chinese, Ilocano and Filipino influences.
Visit December 2005
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Inscription of Vigan as a WHS was rejected earlier, in 1989, because it couldn't compare with Spanish colonial cities like Cartagena (Colombia) and Trinidad (Cuba). I haven't been to those two places, but I've seen many other Latin American colonial towns. Like those, Vigan has the checkerboard street plan, the central plaza (even two of them) and the cobbled streets (well, one street).
Although it's not spectacular on the Spanish-colonial scale of things, Vigan is quite a remarkable oasis in the Philippines. In general, not many historic buildings are left, after centuries of earthquakes, fires and WWII (the latter having been very harsh on the Philippines). Here in Vigan they've decided to save whatever is left. The historical buildings are in various states of (dis)repair, but their ensemble has great atmosphere (added by sealing one street off for motorized vehicles). As the ICOMOS report remarks, Vigan should actually be compared with other Asian colonial trading cities like Hoi An, Malacca and (the more brightly painted) Macau.
One of the joys if Vigan are its old villas (mostly dating from the 19th century), which are open to visitors. You can even stay at one (Villa Angela), which I did and can only recommend. One really feels like the lady or the lord of the manor there, sitting, eating and sleeping at furniture that you normally aren't allowed to touch in a museum.
More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery
Reviews
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The most enjoyable part of visiting Vigan was riding around in a horse-drawn calesa past all the old crumbling buildings. At one point were were held up by a noisy and colourul funeral procession. The calesas were not expensive either.
Vigan was also handy for visiting two of the churches, at Paoay and at Santa Maria |
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Ivan ManDy (Philippines):
 My first trip to visit historic northern city was with a group shutter bugs from a local photography club. Unfortunately for us, we had a small incident with 2 drunk particiapnts and apparently, we made quite a 'scene' in the town. ;o)
Vigan is neither imperial nor grand. And to be honnest, the houses (its main WHS draw) are rather stark compared with the more flamboyant ones found in other historic towns across the Philippines. This is a reflection of local Ilokano culture- a group of people known not exactly for being fanciful but more for being frugal.
But what makes Vigan unique is the concentration of Hispanic influenced (with Asian details) period houses perhaps unmatched anywhere else in the country. I particularly liked the pastel-colored Spanish-colonial cathedral ith Chinese lions and a pagoda-inspired bell tower(above) facing the main plaza fronting an American-colonial government house. The town is small enough to be explored in a day and the nearby Santa Maria church (another WHS) provides for an excellent day trip.
Of course, a trip that lasts more 10 hours (thats the distance it takes to drive from Manila) should be worth more than that and it is! The excellent views of the South China Sea meeting the town's Abra river is stunning. As are the beaches further north (Pagudpud), the time-worn churches (including another WHS- the Paoay Church) and Marcos memorabilia are what makes the Ilokos province a gem of a place. |
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