Batangas - Basilica de St. Martin de Tours

Basilica de St. Martin de Tours
Taal, Batangas

Basilica de St. Martin de Tours is a Minor Basilica that is standing tall at the heart of Taal, Batangas. A Baroque church that has more than 100 hundred years of age as of to date. Built in 19th century, the Basilica de St. Martin de Tours have passes lots of reconstructions due to the destruction made by catastrophic even such as eruption of Taal Volcano and major earthquake. In 1954, Basilica de St. Martin de Tours gained an honor of being third Minor Basilica in the country. In 1972, the Church was declared National Shrine under the Presidential decree no. 375.

Basilica de St. Martin de Tours also known as Taal Basilica is the Largest Catholic Church in the Philippines. Standing atop tall a small hill, Basilica de St. Martin de Tours have a size of 96 meter or 315 feet long and 45 meters or 148 feet wide. There are blogs saying that the Basilica de St. Martin de Tours is the largest in Asia, but yours truly's data were insufficient to support the same, and since the Iglesia ni Cristo Central Temple is also claiming the throne,so guess that the description above is safe.

Made from coral stones and adobe, this old Basilica become quite an attraction not just for pilgrims for their Visita Iglesa, but also tourist who are amazed of the beauty of the said. One may climb the rooftop for viewing for a fee as donation to church amounting to Php 50.00 or a li'l amount more than 1 dollar.

 Also, since the Basilica de St. Martin de Tours sits in the heritage town of Taal, visiting nearby structures such as Parish of Our Lady of Caysasay Shrine, Ecuela Pia, San Lorenzo Ruiz steps and more of heritage buildings since the town of Taal is explorable by foot and places are merely walking distances. Also, the town of Taal is known for Balisong and it's delicacies Tapang Taal & Lomi.

TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS

Take bus enroute to Nasugbu at EDSA-MRT LRT Pasay and ask them to drop you off at "Boundary", it's the boundary between Cavite and Batangas. From there, you can see a jeep terminal heading to the Taal town.

SUGGESTED ITINERARY

*Itinerary includes visiting Transfiguration Chapel of Caleruega and Our Lady of Caysasay Shrine. Thus, pls see Transfiguration Chapel of Caleruega for the said.

TRIVIA

Many make mistakes by assuming that the Town of Taal is same with the location of the famous Taal, Volcano which is at Talisay Batangas. Well, let's have a little look at the history.

Taal Town was founded by Agustinian missionaries at the banks of a lake way back 1572 where the municipality of San Nicolas now lies. The very lake is the Taal lake, where the name of the Town came from.