Parish Church of Saint Francis of Assisi of Balamban

Official Name: Parish Church of Saint Francis of Assisi of Balamban[1]

Classification Status: Classified Historic Structures (covering all Colonial Churches and other Houses of Worship, per NHCP Res. No. 3, s. 1991)[1]

Town or City: Balamban

Description:
Saint Francis of Assisi Church is an old Roman Catholic Church constructed in Baroque style in Balamban, a northwestern town of the province of Cebu. It is also referred to as Balamban Church.[2]

History
St. Francis of Asisi is the patron of Balamban Church. It became a parish in 1857, becoming independent from the mother parish of Jinulauan, now the parish of Toledo.[2]

Architecture
The church’s facade is characterized by slender, dramatic round columns that bloom into foliage at their capital. A porte-cochere is made up of two such columns flanked by twin piers on singular plinths terminating in finials. The entablature is decorated with sinuous reliefs and at the center is a relief of a lamb. The parapet has balustrade, and it rises in the center with finials standing on either side of a voluted niche of a monstrance flanked by kneeling angels.

Entering the church is the portico of an arcade of three arches with corresponding pilasters similarly decorated. The entrance leads to vestibule. The puerta mayor is an archway flanked by twin, fluted, rectilinear pilasters of simpler capitals. In the upper register of the entrance is an arch window with balustrade flanked by rose windows. On either side of the portico is an arch window with tracery, a rose window, and on the roof the two-level, quadrilateral belfry, pierced with balustraded arches and capped with finials and dome.[2]

Source:
1. https://ncca.gov.ph/philippine-registry-cultural-property-precup/
2. https://www.theoldchurches.com/philippines/cebu/balamban/saint-francis-of-assisi-church-in-balamban-cebu/