Our lady of the immaculate conception church in Oslob, Cebu
Oslob was established as a visita of Boljoon in 1690 and became an independent parish in 1848 with the Immaculate Conception as its patroness. Made of coral stones, its construction started in 1830 and finished 18 years later. It was designed by Bishop Santos Gomez de Marañon (the same prelate who built the kiosk of Magellan’s Cross in Cebu City) to replace the destroyed church at Daanglungsod (Boloc-Boloc). The buttresses were added between 1848 and 1850 while the adjacent bell tower was installed in 1858.
The church was burned down during the Second World War liberating Philippine Commonwealth troops and Cebuano guerillas against the Japanese in Oslob in 1945, but was eventually restored in 1955. Outside the walls are the remains of a watchtower, one of the many that line the southeastern coast of the Cebu.
The church is connected to the parish house or convento that still has its original clay-tiled roof. Across the road from the church is the former mortuary chapel with a pediment decorated with a relief of a human skeleton. North of the complex is a small road that leads to the old cemetery.
In 2008, a fire gutted the 19th-century church's interior, including the altar and adjacent rectory, but it spared the image of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, which is inside a glass case, and the 73 other icons near the door to the bell tower. The church was completely restored on December 10, 2010.
Located front right of the church of Oslob, just outside the perimeter stone fence and near the sea, at the intersection of Calle Aeternidad and the end of Calle Aragones, stands an unfinished building made of coral blocks resembling a Spanish-era barracks. This was intended to be the cuartel for Spanish soldiers or guardia civil. Its construction started about 1860, but remained unfinished until the end of Spanish occupation in 1898.
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