San Sebastian Church

In the middle of the city of Manila, a soaring church with a green-painted gothic twin spire dominates the skyline. What is not obvious from afar is that this church is made of steel, in fact, the steel building is the San Sebastian Basilica, a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church in Manila.

Completed in 1891, the church was built with the intentions to withstand fire, which has been an issue in this dense part of the city. It was also designed to withstand earthquakes. The design is a fusion of baroque and neo-gothic inspired from the Burgos Cathedral in Spain. The church was listed as one of the most endangered monuments in the world by the World Monuments Fund in the 2010 World Monuments Watch