The church of Sta. Cruz in Manila dates back to the year 1619 and it was built to support the growing Christian population of the area. Compared to the Binondo Church, the facade of the Sta. Cruz church is more well maintained. It would seem that the church has already gone through several renovations. In fact as I was visiting there was some construction work going on at that time to improve the entrance of the church.
Even the church itself is painted a nice cream shade in sharp contrast to the gray of Binondo church. If you look at Sta. Cruz church you probably won’t guess that it is already several centuries old. Sta. Cruz church is dedicated to Our Lady of Pilar and is the patroness of the church, with the official name of Nuestra Señora del Pilar.
The interior of the church is quite interesting, for one thing, there are no posts to block the view of the congregation. All of the posts have been built around the church, so the inside of the church feels quite cavernous. There is a huge mural of the Lamb of God and right in front of it is the altar. At the time of my visit, there was Holy Mass being celebrated and it didn’t feel right for me to be taking photos of the church at that time. In fact, the security guard though so too and began to chase me out just as I was getting out of the church.
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