Among the many treasures of both tangible and intangible heritage of such a storied and celebrated place such as Boljoon is a room which has seen its own fair share of history. A baptistery, as the name suggests, is where people are baptized, in this case, to become Roman Catholics. The Baptistery of Boljoon was constructed, probably, around the same time as the church.
The earliest record of the existence of this Baptistery was in 1798, making the room, as with much of the church, several centuries old. Contained within the Baptistery is Retablo and Altar table that, by themselves, also date back to the time when the church was being completed. The Retablo’s design is similar to those found at the transept of the Church and is designed in the Necolassical architecture style and having the influence of Chinese and Moro styles. The paintings on the Baptistery ceiling depicting the holy spirit in the form of a dove were done in the 1930s by local artist Miguel Villareal.
The Loss of a Treasure: For two centuries, a painting of the Baptism of St. Augustine by St. Ambrose painted by noted artist, Severino Flavier Pablo, was held behind the large open space of the Retablo; this was until the year 1983 when it was sold for Php 200,000. The artistic merit of the painting is complemented by the fact that several precious items were part of the ensemble including: A shell made of silver and Gold finishing on robes all around.
Special Thanks to the, oh-so welcoming, friar of Boljoon.
|UnknownCebuStudios|
