In Manila, the word Intramuros describes a boundary as much as a district. Streets still run within the Spanish-era walls, but what lies inside is no single preserved century. A fortress became a prison and then a national shrine. A church survived a battle that destroyed much of its neighbourhood. Museums now occupy buildings and reconstructed streetscapes whose histories need to be read separately. The pleasure of walking here comes from seeing those layers together, rather than treating every picturesque façade as a colonial original.
Begin near the Pasig River at Fort Santiago. The Intramuros Administration traces the site back to the fortified settlement of precolonial Maynila, associated with Rajah Sulayman. Spanish occupation began in 1571, and an attack by Limahong's forces in 1574 exposed the need for stronger defences. Construction of the stone fort proceeded from 1589 to 1592. Those dates give the visitor a chronology to carry through the gate: the ground was politically important before the Spanish fort was built, and its military form changed under colonial rule.