Quiapo, Manila

**Quiapo** () is a district of the city of Manila, in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Known as the “Old Downtown of Manila", the district’s most famous landmark is Quiapo Church, shrine of the sacred Black Nazarene image, processioned annually every January in the historic district, attracting tens of thousands of devotees.

Geographically located at the very center of the City of Manila, Quiapo is bounded by the _Pasig River_ and the _Estero de San Miguel_ to the south, **San Miguel** district to the east, the districts of **Sampaloc** and **Santa Cruz**; with _Recto Avenue_ to the north, and _Rizal Avenue_ to the west.

## Etymology

Quiapo's name is derived from the abundance of water cabbage (_Pistia stratiotes_), called _kiyapo_ in Tagalog (spelled _quiapo_ in "Philippine Spanish") in the nearby Pasig River. The town of **Cuyapo** in Nueva Ecija province is also named after the same plant.

## History

Pre-1800 maps of Manila show that Quiapo, historically a poor fishing village, was originally a cluster of islands with marshlands and shallow waters. In 1578, Franciscans arrived and established their main missionary headquarters in the nearby Santa Ana de Sapa, taking Quiapo as part of its _visita_ (chapel-of-ease) and founded Quiapo Church, dedicated to its patron Saint John the Baptist.

Franciscan prelate Pedro Bautista petitioned to make Quiapo a separate town, and the petition was granted by the Governor-General Santiago de Vera on August 29, 1586. In 1622, Augustinians arrived and founded a chapel in honor of St. Sebastian at the present-day site of the San Sebastian Basilica. By 1850, then a small agricultural village, population of Quiapo grew as a result of a developing economy upon termination of the _Manila Galleon Trade_ monopoly and the subsequent opening of the Philippines to world trade in 1830. Newly affluent _mestizo_ families began settling in Quiapo afterwards, as well as rich mercantile Europeans and Spanish military officials.

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Quiapo
- **image skyline**: Quezon Boulevard southbound (Quiapo, Manila)(07-16-2024).jpg
- **image caption**: Quezon Boulevard along Quiapo Church
- **image map**: Ph fil manila quiapo.png
- **settlement type**: District of Manila
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: Philippines
- **subdivision type1**: Region
- **subdivision name1**: Metro Manila, National Capital Region
- **subdivision type2**: City
- **subdivision name2**: Manila
- **subdivision type3**: Congressional districts
- **subdivision name3**: Part of the Manila's 3rd congressional district, 3rd district of Manila
- **subdivision type4**: Barangay, Barangays
- **subdivision name4**: #Barangays, 16
- **established title**: Founding Date
- **established date**: August 29, 1586
- **area total km2**: 0.8469
- **population as of**: 2020
- **population total**: 29846
- **population density km2**: auto
- **timezone1**: Philippine Standard Time
- **utc offset1**: +08:00
- **postal code type**: List of ZIP codes in the Philippines, Zip codes
- **postal code**: 1001
- **area code type**: Telephone numbers in the Philippines, Area codes
- **area code**: 02