Porta Vaga Archaeological Site - Cavite City Philippines

The Porta Vaga Site is situated in the hook-shaped peninsula of Cavite City at the province’s northern tip. It is named after the fortified gateway structure called “Porta Vaga” (New Gateway/Pintuang Bago), erected by the Spanish authorities in 1595 and stood until the 1940s, before parts of Cavite City were razed during the Second World War. The Porta Vaga functioned as a fortification for the community within its moat, and the only maritime gateway to the province, particularly to the Hacienda San Roque, where galleon laborers resided at that time.

The fortified gateway structure of Porta Vaga at the end of the 19th century, showing Spanish soldiers lined up in front of the entrance. Photo from the collections of Fr. Virgilio Saenz Mendoza and digitized by Percy Carballo (By Percy s a carballo - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91246593)

An illustration of the site’s excavated squares showing the location of Porta Vaga’s ruins. Image from Antonio Nazareno’s 2002 master’s thesis “Porta Vaga de Cavite Puerto: The Lost Gateway of Spain in the Orient: A Rediscovery.”

The Porta Vaga Site was the focus of the 1997-1998 archaeological fieldwork of the University of the Philippines-Archaeological Studies Program (UP-ASP), led by Eusebio Dizon, Wilhelm Solheim II, and Alfred Pawlik, along with archaeologists from the #NationalMuseumPH, who supervised the excavation and provided their technical expertise. The fieldwork aimed to locate the Porta Vaga ruins and to understand, through archaeology, the historical and cultural development of Cavite City as a maritime center during the Spanish colonial period.

The Samonte Park in Cavite City at present, where the remnants of Porta Vaga are located. Photo courtesy of Odie Dela Cruz (2021).

The excavations revealed Porta Vaga’s significant ruins, such as the perimeter wall, pavements, and the remains of the gate, as well as parts of the old Ermita de Porta Vaga church. Layers of beach sand below the loam layer from the site’s soil profile indicated that a portion of the area was originally a waterfront. Various archaeological materials retrieved from the site, particularly pottery and trade ceramics, speak of Cavite City’s vibrant commercial life at the arrival of the Spanish and during the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade.

The 354-year-old painting of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga (Our Lady of Solitude of Porta Vaga), the Patroness of Cavite Province, with her canonical crowns and honorary pins. The photo was taken on November 24, 2018, the day the #NationalMuseumPH officially declared La Virgen’s image as a National Cultural Treasure. Photo courtesy of the Archives of Cofradia de la Virgen de la Soledad de Porta Vaga.

Aside from the Porta Vaga Site, Cavite City is also the home of the Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Porta Vaga, the oldest Marian painting in the country, which was declared a National Cultural Treasure in 2018 by the #NationalMuseumPH. We hope to see you soon once we are authorized to re-open to the public. In the meantime, please #StayHomeStaySafe.