Adobe and its quarries as heritage

ABSTRACT : The use of stone as a building material in the Philippines reached its zenith during the Spanish colonial period when several ecclesiastical structures and fortifications were built throughout the archipelago. These stone buildings have been predominantly studied in terms of their art and architecture but the stone material from which they were made and the quarries from where they were extracted remain largely unexplored. Studies on historic quarries have been done in different countries and continue to stir interest among geologists, historians and heritage practitioners. This paper melds geology and history to introduce the study of historic quarries, underscoring Guadalupe and Meycauayan as major sources of stones that were used for building construction inManila. This paper also looks into the exten sive use of adobe as the most quarried stone material and how its abundance paved the way for a stonecutting industry that supplied most heritagestructures in Manila and its environs, making it the stone that built Manila.

Filipiniana