Saint Joseph's Church (Las Piñas Church)

Saint Joseph's Church, also called Las Piñas Church or the Bamboo Organ Church, is a National Cultural Treasure of the Philippines and the reason most visitors come to Las Piñas. The building is constructed from volcanic adobe stone in the Earthquake Baroque style, with characteristically heavy walls, a massive facade, and a single baroque tower.

The church is still an active parish. The nave interior is plain but for the Bamboo Organ at the rear and several historical religious artworks. The parish compound adjacent to the church contains a small museum with items related to Father Diego Cera and the organ's history. The church is open throughout the day and entrance is free; the annual Bamboo Organ Festival in February is the best time to visit if you want to hear the instrument in performance, but the church itself rewards a visit at any time.

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A story
Saint Joseph's Church in Las Piñas is one of the earliest examples of the 'Earthquake Baroque' style of Philippine church architecture — a term for the distinctively squat, massively thick-walled churches built in the Philippines after repeated earthquakes destroyed taller structures. The walls are up to two metres thick in places. The church was begun in 1797 and completed in 1819 by Father Diego Cera, the same friar who built the Bamboo Organ inside it — making the church and the organ essentially a single artistic project conceived and executed by one extraordinary man.