Santa Cruz is a district in the northern part of the City of Manila,

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, located on the right bank of the

Pasig River The Pasig River (; ) is a water body in the Philippines that connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Stretching for , it bisects the Philippine capital of Manila and Metro Manila, its surrounding urban area into northern and southern halves. Its m ...

near its mouth. It is bordered by the districts of Tondo,

Binondo Binondo (; ) is a district in Manila and is referred to as the city's Chinatown. Its influence extends beyond to the places of Quiapo, Manila, Quiapo, Santa Cruz, Manila, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, Manila, San Nicolas and Tondo, Manila, Tondo. ...

Quiapo Quiapo may refer to: * Quiapo, Chile, a location in Arauco Province *Quiapo, Manila, a district in the Philippines ** Quiapo Church The Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno (), commonly known as Quiapo Church and canonically ...

, and Sampaloc, as well as the areas of Grace Park and Barrio San José in

Caloocan Caloocan, officially the City of Caloocan (; ), is a highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 1,661,584 people making it the fourth-most populous city in the Philippines. Caloo ...

, and the district of La Loma in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

. The district belongs to the 3rd congressional district of Manila.

History

Spanish colonial era

Prior to the arrival of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

conquistadors Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

to the Philippine archipelago in 1521, the district of Santa Cruz was partly

marshland In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

, patches of greenery, orchards, and ricefields. A Spanish expedition in 1581 claimed the territory and awarded it to the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

The Jesuits then built the first

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in the area, where the present Santa Cruz Church stands on June 20, 1619. The Jesuits enshrined the image of the

Our Lady of The Pillar Our Lady of the Pillar () is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD 40, AD 40 while he was pre ...

in 1643, and they served the area’s pre-dominantly Chinese residents. The image attracted devotees and a popular ''cultus'' grew around it At Santa Cruz Church, a small park was built that connected the area to the headquarters of the Spanish cavalry, which once was the Jesuit-run Colegio de San Ildefonso. The district in Spanish times also had a

slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...

and meat market, and further north was the Chinese Cemetery. On June 24, 1784, King Carlos III of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

gave the deeds to about of land that was part of the ''Hacienda de Mayhaligue'' to San Lázaro Hospital, which served as the regional

leprosarium A leper colony, also known by #Names, many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. ''Mycobacterium leprae, M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believ ...

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

were charged with caring for the

leper Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve da ...

s of the city, and Father Félix Huerta developed San Lázaro into a refuge for the afflicted on the north side of the

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

occupying forces, caught unaware of the fast-approaching joint American and Filipino soldiers from the north, abandoned the northern banks of the Pasig including the Santa Cruz area. The district and northern portions of Manila were spared from the heavy shelling which flattened the city, and to date, a number of pre-World War II buildings still stand in Santa Cruz. When the

Third Philippine Republic Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

was proclaimed on July 4, 1946, the San Lázaro Hospital complex became the headquarters of the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

Notable buildings

Santa Cruz Church

The first Santa Cruz Church was built when the Arrabal (Suburb) of Santa Cruz was established by the Jesuits in the early 1600s. The church had undergone many repairs and reconstruction, with the last reconstruction done in the 1950s. Today, the church architecture employs a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Spanish Mission style facade silhouette with the usual Filipino (Asian-Hispanic mix)

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

ornamentation. The church facade is topped with an effigy statue of Our Lady of the Pillar, the patroness of the church whose feast happens every third Sunday of October and on the 12th day of October.

Cemeteries

Santa Cruz is home to Manila's oldest cemeteries located in the district's northern section namely, La Loma Cemetery (shared with

), the Manila Chinese Cemetery, and the city's biggest, the

Manila North Cemetery The Manila North Cemetery (Spanish: ''Cementerio del Norte'') is one of the oldest cemeteries in Metro Manila, Philippines. The cemetery is owned by and located in the City of Manila, the national capital, and is one of the largest in the met ...

Main thoroughfares

Rizal Avenue Rizal Avenue, also known as J. Rizal Avenue, Avenida Rizal or simply Avenida, is one of Manila's main thoroughfares, running with two to six lanes from its Santa Cruz, Manila, Santa Cruz and Quiapo, Manila, Quiapo districts to the Bonifacio M ...

is the main thoroughfare in the district. The district is also accessible via the following roads: *

Recto Avenue Claro M. Recto Avenue, more popularly known as simply Recto, is the principal commercial thoroughfare in north-central Manila, Philippines. It spans six districts just north of the Pasig River in what is generally considered Manila's old downt ...

* Tayuman Street * Blumentritt Road Stations of the LRT Line 1 located in Santa Cruz are Carriedo (shared with Quiapo), Doroteo Jose, Bambang, Tayuman and Blumentritt (shared with Tondo). The

Philippine National Railways The Philippine National Railways (PNR) (; ) is a government-owned and controlled corporation, state-owned railway company in the Philippines which operates one commuter rail service between Laguna (province), Laguna and Quezon, and local servic ...

has a station in Blumentritt. Jeepneys coming from Baclaran,

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 Philippine census, 2020 census, it has a ...

, Valenzuela, Novaliches and

pass through Rizal Avenue.

Education

As of February 2024, the Manila Department of Education lists three senior high schools in Santa Cruz, namely Cayetano Arellano, Manuel L. Quezon (SHS) and Doña Teodora Alonzo.

Barangays

Santa Cruz has 82 barangays, group in nine Zones of the City of Manila.

Sub-districts

Barangays Santa Cruz has two postal codes corresponding to its two sub-districts: 1014 for Santa Cruz North and 1003 for Santa Cruz South.

Gallery

Religious buildings

File:MetroManila,Manilajf9999 22.JPG, Santa Cruz Church File:09690jfRoads Rizal Avenue Santa Cruz Schools Churches Landmarksfvf 07.JPG, Archdiocesan Shrine of Espiritu Santo File:04286jfSan Roque Manila Parish Church Blumentritt Rizal Avenuefvf 03.jpg, San Roque Church File:02221jfKnox United Methodist Church Bethel School Santa Cruz Manilafvf 09.jpg, Bethel Knox United Methodist Church

Civic institutions

File:Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.JPG, José R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center File:Chinese General Hospital 1.JPG, Chinese General Hospital File:141Manila North Cemetery North Green Park 10.jpg,

File:Chinese Cemetery - south gate - panoramio.jpg, Manila Chinese Cemetery

Commercial establishments

File:Arch of Goodwill at Plaza Santa Cruz, Chinatown, Manila, Philippines - 20120111.jpg,

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

(Plaza Santa Cruz), Third Welcome Gate (Arch of Goodwill) to Ongpin Street towards Binondo File:Ongpinjf.JPG, Ongpin Commercial Center File:Bpistacruzjf.JPG,

Bank of the Philippine Islands The Bank of the Philippine Islands ('';'' '','' commonly known as BPI; ) is a universal bank in the Philippines. It is the oldest bank in both the Philippines and Southeast Asia. It is the fourth largest bank in terms of assets, the second lar ...

at Don Román Santos Building, a neo-classical, Graeco-Roman structure at Plaza Goiti (now Plaza Lacson) File:MetroManila,Manilajf9999 09.JPG, Carriedo Street with Plaza Lacson in the background File:Avenida-D.JPG, Commercial Buildings in Rizal Avenue File:San Lazaro Manila2.jpg, San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park (formerly the San Lázaro Racetrack) File:Capitan Pepe Building.JPG, Capitan Pepe Building

Residences

File:Bahay na bato house in Santa Cruz, Manila.JPG, Bahay na bato house in Santa Cruz, Manila File:Bahay na bato apartments in Santa Cruz, Manila.JPG, Bahay na bato apartments in Santa Cruz, Manila File:Period architecture in Santa Cruz, Manila.JPG, Period architecture in Santa Cruz, Manila File:Avenida-C.JPG, Bahay na Bato House in Bambang Rizal Avenue

References

External links

* * *https://brgy.info/zipcodes/1014_manila.php *https://brgy.info/zipcodes/1003_manila.php {{Metro Manila populated places Districts of Manila 1619 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated places established in 1619