The Convents of Manila: Globalized Architecture during the Iberian Union by Pedro Luengo

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Convents of Manila: Globalized Architecture during the Iberian Union by Pedro Luengo Jethro Calacday PEDRO LUENGO, TRANS. CONCEPCION L. ROSALES The Convents of Manila: Globalized Architecture during the Iberian Union Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University, 2018. 293 pages. Laureled as the best book in history at the 2019 National Book Awards organized by the National Book Development Board, The Convents of Manila: Globalized Architecture during the Iberian Union reconstructs the global, cross-cultural history of the architectural ventures of the four traditional religious orders that were missioned in the Philippines: the Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits, and Dominicans. The author, Pedro Luengo, is associate professor in the Department of Art History of the University of Seville and a prolific author who has published six other books and numerous essays and book chapters on the history of architecture in the Spanish empire. Undoubtedly the work of a brilliant and diligent historian who has mastered the Spanish imperial archives, The Convents of Manila is an indispensable [End Page 277] resource for scholars specializing on the Spanish colonial Philippines to discern leads in the labyrinthine maze of yet unused materials in Spain. Moreover, Concepcion L. Rosales's translation of the book from Spanish to English is a welcome gesture in addressing the language barrier between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking scholars of Philippine studies. Departing from the usual schema of studying the Spanish colonial Philippines in terms of "Spanish imperial expansion" (1), Luengo proposes that the framework of global cultural transfer is the "only … basis [by which] Philippine history [can be] understood" (ix). He argues that Philippine architecture is a confluence of Asian, native Filipino, Latin American, and European techniques and workmanship, indeed the result of a global "cultural dialogue." Luengo extensively uses archival materials from the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid, and the National Archives of the Philippines in Manila, in addition to other religious and ecclesiastical archives in Spain. The book has seven chapters: two introductory chapters, four chapters dedicated to the architectural projects of each religious order, and a conclusion. The book's one major drawback, however, relates to its theoretical contribution: although Luengo demonstrates the connections of Philippine architecture with Asian and European influences, the idea of cultural transfer or cultural dialogue—the book's major proposition—is not conceptually defined. This fundamental lapse results in a rather confusing—but still promising—analysis of the evidence: was cultural transfer aesthetic or functional? Did cultural transfer mean the adaptation to the environment in which structures were built? Was it merely a matter of a multiethnic labor force coming together and sharing techniques? Hence, for the most part, the text just rehashes an old and obvious insight. For Luengo, "native professionals responsible for many of the churches … belonged to the pre-Hispanic architectural tradition in the Philippines" (21); they made use of "indigenous techniques [that] were quickly adopted by the missionaries and continued until the nineteenth century likely without modifications" (24). Brought to Manila by commercial and migrant ties with Fujian during the Ming dynasty (5), the Chinese controlled the entire construction supply system, but they also contributed their "knowledge of local wood and stone carving, as well as making bricks and tiles" (25). Carpenters and military engineers from Spain were also present, although they were fewer compared with native and Chinese workers (42–43). [End Page 278] Luengo suggests that "the arrival of [the] Spaniards meant a meaningful change in many building processes" (33) because it consolidated indigenous and Chinese techniques. Whereas precolonial natives made exclusive use of light materials and wood, the Spanish introduced stonemasonry and the making of lime and bricks. Spanish friars from Macao also applied techniques they learned in the Portuguese outpost to their new construction projects in Manila (11). For Luengo, this diversity in manpower, technical knowledge, and materiality highlights the "deep cultural dialogue among, at least, these three traditions" (33) of the indigenous, the Chinese, and the Spanish. In chapter 3, which discusses the Augustinian order and its Recollect branch, Luengo puts prime albeit unnecessary emphasis on the funding of the construction, the personalities who bought side chapels, biographical demystifications, and conflicts between the...