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St. William Cathedral’s Belfry

Keywords : Towers, Roman Catholic, Belfry

Artwork alternative nameSinking Tower
Site common nameSt. William Cathedral of Laoag
Type of artworkArchitecture
Province/CityLaoag
StateIlocos Nord
CountryPhilippines
Geographic Coordinates
Decimal degree		Lat : 18.1939313
Long : 120.5936497

History of productionIt is assumed that this St. William Cathedral’s Belfry was built after the earthquake in 1707. It is the belfry of t. William church which is the church of Laoag city. The belfry is 85 meters tall. It is also called Sinking Tower because half of the lower part of the door is under the ground.
ArtThe characteristic of the belfry of Laoag School is completely different than the one from Vigan. The belfry of Vigan School is usually octagon but the belfry of Laoag School is always square with layers. This character is inherited from the belfry of the church of Paoay city which is one of the successors of Spanish art. It is worth noting that at the side corner of the belfry appears a lot of large buttresses and they were built separately from the church to protect the belfry from falling over the church when an earthquake occurs. For this reason, belfries in this area are situated separately from churches.
SchoolLaoag
PeriodHistorical Period
Art periodEarly Spanish influence
Age17th – 19th centuries
ReligionChristianity
SectCatholic

Type of LicenseAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
RightsPrincess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre
Date of record creation2015-02-00
Record creatorChedha Tingsanchali