The Roman Catholic Church is an imposing witness to the Bagonhon's religiosity and faith. The Century-old church of St. John the Baptist has a unique architectural design reflective of the 1600's and considered as one of the oldest Churches in Negros.
Bago City was founded on June 24, 1575 falling on the Feast day of St. John the Baptist the patron saint of the City.
The church is located near at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center. The huge structure was named after the illustrious leader, former Mayor Manuel Y. Torres in recognition of his exemplary leadership.
The whole structure of St. John The Baptist Church are original material since it was built many years ago. Sad to say but it's appearance in closer look seems the church is already decrepit. Where you can glimpse the broken bricks, chipped off paints, broken windows, loosen door hinges, rusted grills and some portion is temporarily closed due to accident prone area. Aside from that there is no sign that it is under repair or maintenance.
Upon entering the church the set up is quite different from the churches I visited already for the past months. It is my first time to witness as I looked up. The plain concave shape of the ceiling don't have any hanging decorative chandeliers that are lighted and added attraction to the church.
While the rounded shaped stained glasses at each corner from the ceiling gives enough light to the church interior. Then some halogen spot lights are installed to every post that will serve as back-up light when masses happened during late afternoon or early masses.
Because the church is situated to a place where there are no presence of high trees surrounded the church. The light magnificently reflected inside that gives different color reflections which is pleasing to the eye. Same with the floor and the ceiling absorbs the light perfectly where you can see the detailed designs on the surface.
A meter wide slightly extended window out from the wall with original bricks fasten side by side in all corners. The built-in swing translucent glass windows and the fixed upper stained glass on the top. Then protected by 8 mm square bars formed as grills serve as window support.
The human size Patron of St. John the Baptist displayed at the left corner beside the altar. Place above the elevated platforms to hold the structures and offerings from the devotee of St. John The Baptist.
A circumference of 1.2 meter holy water holder place at the left corner of the church entrance. Made of fine white marble standing 3 feet fixed on the ground. With few designs like leaf and small convex curved details.
Hanging wall decorative frames made of canvass and looks like an oil based canvass paintings similar to some museum that exhibit paintings. Bordered with aluminum frame with out glass coverings with little signature symbols made of molded copper.
Passage going to the belvedere of the church where you can see the front view of the interior. Both entrance are closed and one door is secured with rusty padlock means it was restricted to people for the long time. The plain bricks gives vintage appearance to the path-walk going inside. While the steel rounded stairs are obviously dangerous to be used because of the accumulated rust.
This is the way how the windows looks like from the outside of the restricted passage. Formation of molds and mildews on the brick surface, rust accumulation on the grills. Hence it represent the history of the original structure of church and nothing was change.
Here are the different angles of the church taken from the outside. Where you can see the layered Venetian red color bricks makes the church exceptional. No walls surrounded the church that can block your sight to see how beautiful is St. John The Baptist church that was amazingly built in 1600.
A 32 square meter prayer house built beside the left portion of the church. A small room than can accommodate with approximate 10 people. With patron of St. John The Baptist available inside for those devotees who likes to pray privately.
Grotto of St. Mary is visible in between the church and the prayer house. Devotee who seeks for St. Mary guidance have achance to deliver their devotional prayer to Her. A grotto made of medium size stone to form a small concave shed is available. Then it is surrounded by a mini garden and planted with assorted flowers that adds beauty to the sacred place.
Most of the churches nowadays have this " Ten Commandments " structure place at the outside in front of the church. This will remind catholic and other people who believe in Christ to remember the word of GOD especially his rules. It was stated here the things that we should not commit as sign of respect, faith and love to GOD.
Take Note:
Refrain from visiting Catholic Churches during Saturdays especially between 10 AM until 3 PM if you want to take decent images without having troubles. Because Saturday is scheduled for burial masses which I always forgot to exclude Saturday during church travel visits. Obviously I experienced it again for the two churches I visited last Saturday.
