The Pasig River Light was the first light station in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

when it was established in 1642. The first

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

tower in the country was erected in the station and first lit in 1846. It was then located on the north

jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...

at the mouth of the

Pasig River The Pasig River (; ) is a water body in the Philippines that connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Stretching for , it bisects the Philippine capital of Manila and Metro Manila, its surrounding urban area into northern and southern halves. Its m ...

San Nicolas, Manila San Nicolas is one of the sixteen districts in the city of Manila in the Philippines. It is located at the west central part of the city, on the northern bank of the Pasig River bounded by the districts of Binondo to the east by Estero de Binond ...

, marking the entrance of the river for vessels cruising

Manila Bay Manila Bay (; ) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the Manila, capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and ...

, looking to dock on the inland

Port of Manila The Port of Manila () refers to the collective facilities and terminals that process maritime trade function in harbors in Metro Manila. Located in the Port Area and Tondo districts of Manila, facing Manila Bay, it is the largest and the prem ...

that was then located along the banks of the Pasig River in

Binondo Binondo (; ) is a district in Manila and is referred to as the city's Chinatown. Its influence extends beyond to the places of Quiapo, Manila, Quiapo, Santa Cruz, Manila, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, Manila, San Nicolas and Tondo, Manila, Tondo. ...

and

Intramuros Intramuros () is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Intramuros comprises a centuries-old hist ...

. The first lighthouse, which was known locally as ''Farola'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "lighthouse"), was one of the most conspicuous landmarks in the harbor of Manila from the time it was built till the early part of 20th century. The construction and

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

of the new

along Manila Bay, south of the light station, and the subsequent expansion and reclamation north and west of the tower, had greatly altered the location of the lighthouse, obscuring the light from the wide expanse of Manila Bay. Its former location and the location of its replacement tower is about upriver from the present mouth of the river

History

Pasig Lighthouse and a Filipino fishing boat

A light station had been established on the site since 1642, but it was not until over two centuries later that a lighthouse tower would be built on the location by the ruling

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

. The first lighthouse tower was erected and later lit on September 1, 1846. From its location at the mouth of the historic Pasig River, which divides

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

into north and south sections, the light was a welcoming

beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

for all mariners of inter-island vessels entering the Pasig River and bringing their vessels up for berthing along its busy wharves. On September 20, 1870, the light apparatus of the lighthouse was replaced with a new fixed red light with a shorter visibility because of its color, but easily distinguishable from the other lights of the city than the former white. The 1877 almanac also noted that the color of the lighthouse was changed from white to yellow ''(amarillo)'' and was manned by two lighthouse keepers. The

Spanish colonial The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. These ...

lighthouse was demolished in 1992 for unknown reasons, without regard for its historical significance.

1846 lighthouse tower

The cylindrical first tower was a five-story stone tower including the gallery-lantern room. The unique feature about this lighthouse was the placement of the first four levels, which were in tangent circles if seen from above (meaning the four circles are sharing one point of their sides or in

tangent In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is, intuitively, the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Leibniz defined it as the line through a pair of infinitely close points o ...

), except for the gallery-lantern room, which is centered above the fourth level. Behind the tower was the lighthouse keepers house that was detached from the tower also made of

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

. The white tower had an effective focal point height of above sea level and sat at the end of the north

at the Pasig River mouth. Its original light was a fixed white light visible for .

New lighthouse

The replacement tower is made with

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

and built on the foundation of the old tower. The present tower is an unpainted gray concrete conical structure with a focal plane of above water and a tower height of , slightly shorter than the old tower at . The present station does not serve its original function as the light is now obscured from

by the present and much larger

along Manila Bay. The

Philippine Coast Guard The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG; ) is the third armed uniformed service of the country attached to the Philippines' Department of Transportation, tasked primarily with enforcing laws within Philippine waters, conducting maritime security ope ...

Station of Manila is located adjacent to the lighthouse and the shantytown community that developed from the reclaimed lands is now known as "Parola" ( Filipino for "lighthouse"). All lighthouses in the Philippines and other aids to navigation are maintained by the Maritime Safety Services Command division of the Philippine Coast Guard."Home - Welcome Aboard"
Maritime Safety Services Command. Retrieved on 2014-10-31.

References

Sources

External links

Images of the new lighthouse
from ''Backpacking Philippines and Asia.''

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20160311073504/http://mssc-pcg.org/lighthouses.html Maritime Safety Services Command {{Authority control , additional=Q108740220 Lighthouses completed in 1846 Lighthouses in the Philippines Spanish colonial infrastructure in the Philippines Former buildings and structures in Manila Lighthouses completed in 1992 Marked Historical Structures of the Philippines

Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...