CHIC PARTY DECORATIONS

Argao became a parish in 1703, which prompted the construction of a beautiful rococo-baroque church structure in 1734 and was completed in 1788. A good number of religious artifacts have remained in the church. Dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, there are more than 20 figures of angels sculpted on its brass-studded portals. The altar (retablo) of the church is still the original. The church was renovated for its bicentennial celebration in 1988, and its outer walls were scraped. Despite some renovations and modernizations done to it, the San Miguel Archangel Parish still remains one of the richly furnished churches in southern Cebu. There is a convent that was used primarily as a seminary during the mid-1900s. This two-level structure is known to be one of the highly ornate churches in the island. Together with the convent and other older buildings in the area, it is a dominant structure in the town. Very prominent on its flat facade is the articulated carving of the parish patron saint. Oversized urn-like finials standing on a rectangular base on the corner of the church provides a decorative element.
The church has unusual ceilings of canvass painted all over with religious motifs. On the ceiling are murals done by two of the best church muralists during that time (early 20th century). The first portion portraying biblical manifestations of angels was done by the famous artist Canuto Avila. The other portion by the altar was done by Reynaldo Francia and depicts the victory of St. Michael over Lucifer and his followers. This can be seen above the altar and is done in tinting color.
Aside from the unique murals, Argao is also blessed with another treasure that is considered rare throughout the Philippines. The Church of Argao possesses one of the remaining 14 Spanish era pipe organs, and is one of the three towns in the whole Cebu province to still have this instrument. The pipe organ of Argao, though no longer usable, is estimated by many historians to have been built between the 17th to the 19th century. Organs built in this period were of typical Spanish Baroque style except for the ones built during the last part of the 19th century which are Neo Gothic in style. But all of them were constructed in the reliable Mechanical Action, also known as the Tracker Action. A great possibility is that Argawanons took a great part in building their pipe organ along with Spanish or Mexican Organ-builders. According to the study done by Mr. Hans Gerd Klais of Johannes Klais Orgelbau of Bonn, Germany, who published his research in one of the volumes of Acta Organologica, as late as 1977, the organ was still in good condition. Professional organ makers describe Argao’s organ as having “windchests” constructed from a massive solid wood. Channels were patiently carved out of the massive Narra wood. There are two windchest blocks connected by lead tubes to accommodate all the stops. It has some similarities with the casework of the pipe organ of San Agustin in Manila. Three round towers with the biggest in the middle. Three towers are separated with flat field of pipes. Also, it has white naturals and black sharps of ebony wood and toe pedals, and has a wedge bellow with 4 folds supplied by a 1 fold wedge pump bellow. Unfortunately, no records in the church exist to show who played the organ, though according to some residents, after the 2nd World War Mr. Juan Calledo played the instrument and a certain Noy Ino was tasked to pump the organ. Further research will shed more light to the matter.

Source: Argao Tourism Council

The Swellendam Drostdy Building

This is essentially a Cape Dutch building, except it no longer has the facade gable. The original Drostdy was a small T-shaped building with a front gable. Between 1812 and 1825 the Drostdy was extensively renovated and enlarged to almost twice its original size.

The present plan of the building, based on an H-plan, is unusual in that the main entrance was not retained in the centre of the transverse wing, but moved to the middle section between the two wings when the building was enlarged.

The Drostdy now looks as it did in 1844 and has a thatched roof which is merely raised in a gentle curve above the front door to allow the inclusion of a dormer window to light the loft.

The Drostdy was built using clay and unbaked brick in earth mortar. In later additions stone, or a mixture of stone and soft-burnt brick, was used. This produced the thick walls, that were then plastered with clay or lime mortar and was regularly whitewashed.

Nearly all the timber used in the construction of the building is yellow-wood. These trees grew abundantly in the indigenous forests in this district and Knysna. This wood is not a durable wood and it had to be protected with several layers of paint. The customary colour at the Cape and throughout the colonial world was dark green.

An interesting feature of the Drostdy is the painted lime-plaster floor in the parlour, made to imitate tiles or marble. The interior walls were painted with a tinted lime wash.

The wine-cellar was the last major addition made to the Drostdy while it was still an official building and is the only section with decorative plaster-work.

The Drostdy was the most important building in the town for many years.