Sto. Niño De Villa De Arevalo Church

This was in my tour guide's itinerary, the first stop in fact, so I went along. I knew I have been to this church. But I was unsure which one was 'celebratedly old' - the church structure or something inside it? Plus, I didn't remember having taken a full frontal picture of this church. Nor did I remember its name other than Arevalo Church!

front view of Arevalo Church or Sto Nino De Villa De Arevalo

So, here I got it...The Sto. Niño De Villa De Arevalo Church. Parang ang haba 'no? And it seems hard to pronounce. Thus, just like in our earlier topic, to make it easy, people just say Arevalo Church. And I would not wonder too, if some people may refer to this as the Villa Church or "Simbahan sa Villa"!

The church itself is old, but my guide says, its not very old since this church has many times been ruined and rebuilt due to war, typhoons and earthquakes. He says it is unique though, in that it is inside a plaza (a park), instead of the usual adjacent to or near to. Aha, trivia! Do you know the name of the plaza that the church is built upon?

inside view of Arevalo Church or Sto Nino De Villa De Arevalo

The image of the child Jesus inside this church is purportedly the 3rd oldest such image in the country - first is that one in Cebu, second is the one in Tondo. It is not seen in the above picture by the way. Its on a pedestal to the right before the altar.

I further learned that, though this image is very old, what is celebrated by Iloilo City during the Dinagyang Festival is not in honor of this particular Sto. Niño, but that of Cebu, when it was brought to Iloilo (or something like that). History is just sometimes so amusing, 'no?!

And that building is the convent...Nice old-looking wooden structure!

old spanish era house convent of Arevalo Church or Sto Nino De Villa De Arevalo

My guide says, even that is a heritage landmark in this country's historical lists.

Okay, new learning! We walked to another historic landmark, which is my next story!

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