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Intra Muros seen from San Augustin Church.
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded Manila in 1572, fifty years after Ferdinand Magellan claimed the islands for Spain. In what was to become the de facto capital of the country, the Spaniards built a walled fortress facing Manila Bay. Cannons atop its crenulated parapet, double moats, and redoubts defended the fortress, with adobe walls up to three meters thick. Within these walls (intra muros, in Spanish) settled Spain’s wealthy citizens and bureaucrats and established a bustling city. Mainly the city was built to repel attacks from Chinese pirates and the British and American armies. Filipino forced labour completed the city nearly 150 years later. The pre Spanish settlement of Rajah Sulayman was a wooden fort on the ashes of which was built the Spanish fortress, which was Spain's major defence position in the islands. Also known as the "Shrine of Freedom", in memory of the heroic Filipinos imprisoned and killed here during the Spanish and Japanese eras. Partly rebuilt from the ruins of World War II, it is now a park and promenade housing a resident theatre company - PETA that has used ramparts, old garrison and small chapel, as theatres for both traditional and modern plays.
Inside Intra Muros, you also find Rizal Shrine and Fort Santiago. The restored shrine inside Fort Santiago houses Rizaliana items in memory of the Philippines' national hero. Jose Rizal spent his last few days here before he was executed on December 30, 1896. Among the objects exhibited are various books and manuscripts by and about the national hero; sketches, paintings, wood carvings and sculpture done by the hero; paraphernalia and souvenir acquired during his several trips abroad; and a collection of colonial style furniture form his hometown in Calamba, Laguna
(But when the Americans took over Manila in 1898, they filled in the walled city's moat and built a golf course. The invading Japanese never played golf there)
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