Gonohe and Bayombong Heritage Buildings

We often learn about our history through our teachers in history class or through textbooks from our schools or the local library. But even more explicitly than those sources, the buildings and their architectural styles teach us about our heritage on a day to day basis.

In Bayombong, two of the most glaring examples would be the former Bahay na bato (Stone House) provincial capitol building, now known as the Peoples’ Museum and Library and the imposing Baroque cathedral of Saint Dominic de Guzman, seat of the Diocese of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino provinces. Both buildings were built during the Spanish colonial era and their façades reflect that fact. Like a lot of other heritage structures in the Philippines, these buildings have been damaged both by natural disasters and neglect over the last centuries.

Gonohe is no different. However, one interesting observation is that unlike in the Philippines, traditional ancestral houses in Japan are still commonly found throughout several locales (even in more urbanised areas). In Gonohe, two buildings also stand out. They are, the old western-style fire station built during the Meiji era and a recreation of a traditional thatch-roofed house beside the town’s public library.

Much like Saint Dominic’s Cathedral, Gonohe’s fire station was also a victim of a large fire. The current incarnations of both structures are the results of renovation and reconstruction efforts by the local authorities and townspeople.