Now and Then – Puerta de Isabel II

Puerta de Isabel II in 1900 - Photo courtesy of the University of Michigan Library (http://www.lib.umich.edu/)

Puerta de Isabel II (Photo taken on September 27, 2008)

Puerta de Isabel II (Photo taken on September 27, 2008)

According to the Intramuros Administration website:

North of Letran is the PUERTA DE ISABEL II. This gate was opened in 1861 and was the last to be built in Intramuros during the Spanish period. It was a solution to the heavy pedestrian traffic outside Parian gate going towards the Puente de España ( Bridge of Spain ) and Binondo. Puerta Isabel II opens to Magallanes Drive on which stands the statue ISABEL II.

The PUERTA ISABEL CHAMBERS were part of the riverside curtain wall that extended from the Baluarte de San Gabriel to Baluarte de Santo Domingo .

This section was designed and renovated by Chief Engineer Francisco Sabatini in 1796 to take a double tier of cannons. The chambers were built in 1837 for medical quarters and storehouses.

American engineers demolished sections of the walls in 1903 for street access to the Walled City and the river wharves. The artillery shelling during the Battle of Manila contributed further to its destruction. Only 15 chambers remained intact after the war.

Just some added information, the statue of Queen Isabel II of Spain was not originally intended to be erected near the gate named after her. As a matter of fact, the statue had been moved many times before it was finally placed where it stands today. You can read more about this on the Traveler on Foot’s “The Story of a Well-Traveled Statue” post.

Statue of Queen Isabel II of Spain (Photo taken on September 27, 2008)

Note on the use of the old photograph:

From the University of Michigan Library website:

“Users are free to cite and link to digital content without asking for permission.

“Users are free to download, copy, and distribute works in the public domain without asking for permission. To determine whether a work is in the public domain, see the section on the public domain of the Copyright & Fair Use site of Stanford University Libraries.”