NHCP book unearths the art of Iloilo’s Spanish-era cemeteries

By Mariela Angella Oladive

ILOILO CITY — The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) will launch a book examining the history and cultural significance of eight surviving Spanish colonial cemeteries in Iloilo.

The book, “Ig-Ampo Niño Cami: An Art History of Iloilo Spanish Colonial Cemeteries,” will be launched Oct. 6 at the Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage (MACH) Performance Hall of the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV).

The book, written by Marie Joy Buendia Rosal, documents cemeteries in Oton, Dingle, Janiuay, Santa Barbara, Pototan, Cabatuan, San Joaquin, and Miag-ao.

Rather than focusing on the province’s better-known colonial landmarks, such as churches, ancestral houses, plazas, and monuments, the book turns to cemetery architecture. This aspect of Iloilo’s built heritage has received comparatively less scholarly attention.

The contrast is sharpest in Miag-ao, whose Santo Tomas de Villanueva Parish Church was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 as part of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines.

Rosal examines the cemeteries’ architectural forms, artistic elements, and symbolism. She places them within the religious and funerary traditions of Iloilo during the Spanish colonial period.

The book also presents the sites as more than burial grounds, describing them as places where faith, memory, artistic expression, and community life intersect.

In doing so, it underscores their historical and cultural value and the importance of preserving them.

The work originated from Rosal’s master’s thesis at the University of the Philippines in 1995.

Its publication by the NHCP brings the research to a broader audience and adds to efforts to document the country’s historical and cultural heritage.

Created under Republic Act 10086 of 2010, the NHCP is responsible for advancing the study and preservation of Philippine history and heritage. Its work includes research and publication, conservation of historic sites and structures, installation of historical markers, heraldry, and the administration of national shrines and museums.