San Ignacio in Intramuros, Manila

The Society of Jesus in the Philippines is celebrating the 150th year of Ateneo de Manila University.  And part of its celebration is to put up a museum in what was once the glorious church of San Ignacio in the ancient walled city of Manila, Intramuros.  The magnificent church was destroyed by the bombings of the liberation of Manila in World War 2.  Here is the interior of the church.  For more photos of the beautiful church, go here.

I heard from some alumni of the Ateneo that the alumni assocation was planning to rebuild the church and restore it from its old glory.  This is part of the celebration.  

But I also learned that the Jesuits do not want the church back and instead built a church in the campus of the university and named it the Church of the Gesù, after the famous "motherchurch" of the Jesuits in Rome.

And this is the interior of Church of the Gesù at the Ateneo.

This is what the REAL Church of the Gesù interior looks like.

The ruins of the church was the site of an excavation.  They found Spanish colonial era shards of jars with writings.  A crypt of the Jesuit fathers have also been found and other silverware and sacred vessels.

They now plan to put up a museum on the ruins to house those found in the excavations.  You can find photos here.  Here is the photo of the ruins.

I still do not know why most of those who build new churches still prefer the minimalist and "iconoclastic" churches.  The trend in churches in the Philippines is if it is too minimalistic, this was built by old priests, those who we call the aggiornamento hippies.  If you see churches like the one below, it is highly likely built and redesigned by younger priests.  The one below is the Espiritu Santo Parish Church in Manila.

But the tabernacle is at the side...

Well, the future looks hopeful and as Fr. Z puts it, brick by brick...