Intramuros, Manila · The Last Night Inside the Stone Walls

Intramuros is the walled city built by the Spanish. It was almost entirely destroyed in the battle for Manila in 1945 — churches, monasteries and houses turned together into rubble, with the dead counted by the hundred thousand.

The streets rebuilt after the war stand in their old positions, and the church bell tower was rebuilt lower than before.

The man who keeps the church has said that after the doors close in the evening there are many people speaking in low voices inside, as if the whole city were crowded into one room.

Historical Mysteries / Manila · Philippines / 1945