The San Miguel Archangel Parish Church, commonly referred to as Orion Church, is a 16th-century,

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

church located at Brgy. San Vicente, Orion,

Bataan Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entir ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The parish church, dedicated to Saint Michael, the Archangel, is under the jurisdiction of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Balanga The Diocese of Balanga is one of the 72 dioceses of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. It was established on March 17, 1975, by Pope Paul VI. The diocese comprises the whole civil province of Bataan, with 37 parishes, one minor basilica, ch ...

. A marker bearing the brief history of the structure has been installed in its façade by the National Historical Committee, precursor of the

National Historical Commission of the Philippines The National Historical Commission of the Philippines ( fil, Pambansang Komisyong Pangkasaysayan ng Pilipinas, abbreviated NHCP) is a government agency of the Philippines. Its mission is "the promotion of Philippine history and cultural herita ...

. The current priest of the parish church is Fr. Percival V. Medina, with Fr. Maximo D. Villanueva, Jr. serve as parochial vicar.

Parish and Architectural History

Orion was established by the Dominican Priests on April 30, 1667. The present-day 19th-century church was built by Father Jose Campomanes, OP after an earthquake in 1852 which destroyed the previous structure.

Architecture and Ornamentation

Exterior

The church façade is of barn-style

, a style that has been described as typically found in most Spanish-era churches in the

. It features side pillars capped by urn-like finials, pilasters that divide the façade into five segments and cornices that divide the expanse of the wall into two levels. The pediment is semi-arched and ends into two small volutes before tapering down to the sides. It is adorned by a framed saint's niche flanked by two

hexagonal window A hexagonal window (also Melnikov's or honeycomb window) is a hexagon-shaped window, resembling a bee cell or crystal lattice of graphite. The window can be vertically or horizontally oriented, openable or fixed. It can also be regular or elongately ...

s. A concrete

porte cochere Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

has been added later into the structure. To the left of the church rises the four-level, slender belfry. The two uppermost levels are octagonal and are pierced with rectangular, circular and semicircular arched campanile windows.

Interior

The main altarpiece or ''retablo'', which was done in the early 18th century, is done in

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style.

References

External links