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The Archbishop's Palace (or the Palacio del Arzopispado), adjacent to St Paul's Metropolitan Cathedral and facing Plaza Salcedo, was finished in 1783 (it took seven years to build). Its interesting architectural features include sliding capiz shell windows, cut-out decorations with flower motifs, and a garden.
The Archibishop's Palace
This building (like most of Vigan and unlike much of Manila, for example) miraculously survived the destruction brought by the Second World War and it is the only surviving example of an 18th century archbishop's palace in the Philippines.
Today it is the residence of the Archbishop of Nueva Segovia. In early years the building housed an ecclesiastical court. In 1896 the Filipino revolutionaries occupied the building and imprisoned Bishop Jose Hevia Campomanes there. It served as General Emilio Aguinaldo's headquarters in 1898. Then the invading Americans, under Lt. Col. James Parker used the building as a garrison in 1899.
The Palace has a museum (Museo Nueva Segovia) with a collection of priceless ecclesiastical artifacts and relics from other churches from around the Ilocos region.
Some of the treasures on display there include: portraits of bishops of previous centuries; life-sized wooden statues of saints and martyrs; and ecclesiastical vestments, ornaments, furniture, and documents. There is a silver altar of repose still used by the Cathedral on Maundy Tuesdays. There is also an ivory statue of Nuestra Senora de la Caridad.
On the first floor there is a Throne Room.
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Author: David Paul Wagner
(David Paul Wagner on Google+)