Description of the attraction
The ruins of Kagsawa are the ruins of a Franciscan church, built in 1724 and destroyed by the eruption of Mayon volcano in 1814. Today it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Albay province, located near the provincial capital of Legazpi and converted into a public park under the jurisdiction of the National Museum of the Philippines. The ruins are considered a symbol of the danger of life at the foot of the formidable volcano.
You can get here from Manila by bus - the journey will take from 5 to 6 hours, or by plane - then the whole journey will take about an hour. Usually, after visiting the ruins of Kagsawa, tourists climb to the top of Mayon, which is only 11 km away.
The baroque church in the small town of Kagsawa was built by Franciscan monks in 1724 on the site of another, earlier church destroyed by Dutch pirates in the 17th century. But it also managed to exist for a very short time - in 1814, the most powerful eruption in the history of Mayon volcano occurred, as a result of which 1200 people died, and the town of Kagsawa was buried under tons of ash. During the eruption, hundreds of residents of Kagsava tried to find shelter within the walls of the church, but they also died. From the church building itself, only the bell tower and some parts of the monastery have survived. For a long time after the eruption, the facade of the church was preserved, but it was finally destroyed after an earthquake in the middle of the 20th century.
Today the ruins of the church are part of the Kagsawa Ruins Park and a kind of exhibit at the National Open Air Museum of the Philippines. Here you can see photographs of the Mayon eruptions and some archaeological artifacts.
