Intramuros (Manila), which can be translated from Spanish as "inside the walls", is the oldest district of Manila, the capital of the island nation of the Philippines. Today on site at 0, 67 sq. km has a population of about 5 thousand people. While the number of tourists is much greater than this, after all, Intramuros is one of the main attractions of Manila and a major architectural monument of the Spanish conquest.

In 1571, on the banks of the Pasig river where it falls into Manila Bay Spanish Conquistador Lopez de Legazpi founded the fortress to protect Spanish-speaking military families and administration from attacks by Chinese pirates. This fortress, surrounded by a wide moat, gave rise to the city of Manila up to the 19th century the word "Manila" and "Intramuros" were synonyms. And only in the 19th - early 20th century Manila "stepped" through the walls of the fortress, making it just part of the city.

For many decades lived inside the fortress Hispanic families and workers from the local population. But life gradually took its toll and increasingly created families of mixed ancestry – was gaining momentum Christianization of the indigenous inhabitants of the Philippines. In 1590 on the site of a wooden Fort of Intramuros was built of stone, and in the 17th and 18th centuries is still a complex of buildings designed to protect its inhabitants from the Chinese and the Malays. Unfortunately, during the Second World war, many monuments of Spanish colonial architecture were destroyed in the bombing.

However, today inside of Intramuros, you can see an interesting building, with a long history. The fortress itself is located just South of the river Pasig. Interestingly, before there was a bamboo fortress of Raja Suleiman-Manila, who ruled the area in the 14th century. In the North-Western part is Fort Santiago is the oldest fortification of the Spaniards. This Fort housed a prison for Filipino pirates who fought for the independence of their country. Opposite him stands the Manila Cathedral, built in Romanesque style. And the gates of the fortress is the Cathedral of San Augustin, the oldest building in Manila and one of the most beautiful. Throughout the area are numerous art galleries, museums, restaurants and even a small aquarium. Old ditches that once surrounded Intramuros, drained and turned into a Golf course, popular with locals and tourists.