Monday, April 5, 2010

Antique tiles in Nagcarlang!


I entered the unassuming Nagcarlan cathedral last week and lo and behold what do I find?!?! Antique tiles on the wall! Similar to those I lugged all the way home from Rome, and which originated from villas in Sicily in the 1800s. I was so thrilled. Of course the Machuca tiles were also so pretty but these glazed clay tiles are beautiful (even if mismatched in some areas).


I would love to have four of them hanging on the wall by my deck at home. I wonder if they will notice if four of them got excavated?  Somewhere in another part of the church, these were on the floor and some were cracked and coming off. I wonder which other churches in the Philippines have these tiles?


I wonder who even made them and are they still being made now? the next church we visited, the Cathedral in Liliw, wasn't as exciting, but it was still interesting to see. We were set to visit 3 more but the kids were acting up, so it was time to take them to have pizza at a local place while we went shopping for chinelas!

1 comment:

Gonzo said...

Great post!
As a designer myself, growing up in Nagcarlan I spent some of my childhood years admiring the church's architecture. The antique tiles you mentioned used to adorn the walls and floors of the church. Sadly, when the church was remodeled the floor tiles were removed and replaced with new tiles.
Interestingly enough, I saw the same floor tiles that matched the blue and white antique tiles in an exhibit featuring items found on a sunken Spanish galleon.

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