Earthquake Baroque, or Seismic Baroque, is a style of Baroque architecture found in the Philippines and in Guatemala, which were Spanish-ruled territories that suffered destructive earthquakes during the 17th and the 18th centuries. Large public buildings, such as churches, were then rebuilt in a Baroque style during the Spanish colonial periods in those countries."Antigua’s Environs – Antigua, Guatemala". BootsnAll Indie Travel Guide. Retrieved on 2011-07-06.
Similar events led to the Pombaline architecture in Lisbon following the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and Sicilian Baroque in Sicily following the 1693 earthquake.
Characteristics In the Spanish East Indies, the destruction of churches from frequent earthquakes made subsequent church designs to have lower and wider proportions. Side walls were made thicker and heavily buttressed for stability during tremors, while upper structures were made with lighter materials. In other cases, thinner walls were introduced by progressively decreasing their thickness to the topmost levels.
Bell towers are usually lower and stouter than those in less seismically active regions of the world.Finch, Ric. "Antigue Guatemala-- Monumental City of the Americas". Rutahsa Adventures. Retrieved on 2011-07-06. Towers are thicker in the lower levels, progressively narrowing to the topmost level."The City of God: Churches, Convents and Monasteries" . Discovering Philippines. Retrieved on 2011-07-06. In some Philippine churches, aside from functioning as watchtowers against pirates, some bell towers are detached from the main church building to avoid damage in case these would collapse in an earthquake.
See also Baroque Churches of the Philippines List of Baroque churches in the Philippines List of Catholic churches in the Philippines Church architecture Spanish Colonial architecture
References
External links "Earthquake Baroque: Paoay Church in the Ilocos" from the Heritage Conservation Society San Pedro de las Huertas, an Earthquake Baroque church in Guatemala Earthquake baroque churches of the Philippines