Santa Cruz
District ofManila
Plaza Santa Cruz withCarriedo Fountain and Santa Cruz Church
Map of Manila showing the location of Santa Cruz
Coordinates:14°35′59″N120°58′49″E / 14.5998366°N 120.9801955°E /14.5998366; 120.9801955
Country	Philippines
Region	National Capital Region
City	Manila
District	Part of the3rd district of Manila
Barangays	82
Area
• Total	3.0901 km2 (1.1931 sq mi)
Population  (2020)[1]
• Total	126,735
• Density	41,013/km2 (106,220/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+08:00 (Philippine Standard Time)
Zip codes	1003 (Santa Cruz South) 1014 (Santa Cruz North)
Area codes	02

Santa Cruz is a district in the northern part of theCity of Manila,Philippines, located on the right bank of thePasig River near its mouth. It is bordered by the districts ofTondo,Binondo,Quiapo, andSampaloc, as well as the areas of Grace Park and Barrio San José inCaloocan, and the district of La Loma inQuezon City. The district belongs to the3rd congressional district of Manila.

Prior to the arrival of theSpanishconquistadors to the Philippine archipelago in 1521, the district of Santa Cruz was partlymarshland, patches of greenery, orchards, andricefields. A Spanish expedition in 1581 claimed the territory and awarded it to theSociety of Jesus. Back then it was called the island of Mayhaligue.^[2]

The Jesuits then built the firstCatholic church in the area, where the presentSanta Cruz Church stands on June 20, 1619. The Jesuits enshrined the image of theOur Lady of The Pillar in 1643, and they served the area’s pre-dominantlyChinese residents. The image attracted devotees and a popularcultus grew around it

At Santa Cruz Church, a small park was built that connected the area to the headquarters of the Spanish cavalry, which once was the Jesuit-runColegio de San Ildefonso. The district in Spanish times also had aslaughterhouse and meat market, and further north was theChinese Cemetery.

On June 24, 1784,King Carlos III ofSpain gave the deeds to about 2 km² (0.77 sq mi) of land that was part of theHacienda de Mayhaligue toSan Lázaro Hospital, which served as the regionalleprosarium.Franciscans were charged with caring for thelepers of the city, and FatherFélix Huerta developed San Lázaro into a refuge for the afflicted on the north side of thePasig River.

DuringWorld War II, theJapaneseoccupying forces, caught unaware of the fast-approaching joint American and Filipino soldiers from the north, abandoned the northern banks of the Pasig including the Santa Cruz area. The district and northern portions of Manila were spared from the heavy shelling which flattened the city, and to date, a number of pre-World War II buildings still stand in Santa Cruz.

When theThird Philippine Republic was proclaimed on July 4, 1946, the San Lázaro Hospital complex became the headquarters of theDepartment of Health.

The first Santa Cruz Church was built when the Arrabal (Suburb) of Santa Cruz was established by the Jesuits in the early 1600s. The church had undergone many repairs and reconstruction, with the last reconstruction done in the 1950s. Today, the church architecture employs aCaliforniaSpanish Mission style facade silhouette with the usual Filipino (Asian-Hispanic mix)Baroque ornamentation. The church facade is topped with an effigy statue of Our Lady of the Pillar, the patroness of the church whose feast happens every third Sunday of October and on the 12th day of October.

Santa Cruz is home to Manila's oldest cemeteries located in the district's northern section namely,La Loma Cemetery (shared withCaloocan), theManila Chinese Cemetery, and the city's biggest, theManila North Cemetery.

Rizal Avenue is the main thoroughfare in the district. The district is also accessible via the following roads:

• Recto Avenue
• Tayuman Street
• Blumentritt Road

Stations of theLRT Line 1 located in Santa Cruz areCarriedo (shared with Quiapo),Doroteo Jose,Bambang,Tayuman andBlumentritt (shared with Tondo). ThePhilippine National Railways has a station inBlumentritt. Jeepneys coming fromBaclaran,Pasay,Valenzuela, Novaliches andCaloocan pass through Rizal Avenue.

As of February 2024, the Manila Department of Education lists three senior high schools in Santa Cruz, namely Cayetano Arellano, Manuel L. Quezon (SHS) and Doña Teodora Alonzo.^[3]

Santa Cruz has 82 barangays, group in nine Zones of the City of Manila.

Barangays

Santa Cruz has two postal codes corresponding to its two sub-districts:1014 forSanta Cruz North^[4] and1003 forSanta Cruz South.^[5]

BarangayBeatles is a nickname for an alley called officially,Kusang Loob, meaningvoluntary,(historical name —Calle Negros) located in the district ofSanta Cruz, Manila in thePhilippines. This alley is unique because it only serves as a passageway for pedestrians andtricycles, with gates installed at each end which are opened strictly duringstated hours of the day. TheBrgy. Beatles alleyway traverses alongside two adjacentTaoist temples, namedKiu Siao andLiu Siao of theFil-Sino Taoist Movement, from its gate atLope de Vega Street on one end, to its second gate atValeriano Fugoso street(historical name:Calle Zurbaran) on the other end, where the walls are drawn and painted with decorativegraffiti of theBeatles by commissionedBarangay staff there.^[6]

The Barangay Beatlesnomenclature became part of a wider trend among locals inGreater Manila to bring the music of the Beatles to mundane everyday life in the city^[7]; and sought to contribute a worthy celebration to the global Beatles fan ecosystem.

Coordinates:14°36'28"N 120°58'47"E^[8]

• 
  Santa Cruz Church
• 
  Archdiocesan Shrine of Espiritu Santo
• 
  San Roque Church
• 
  Bethel Knox United Methodist Church
• 
  Philippine Kiu Siao Grand Taoist Temple

• 
  José R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center
• 
  Chinese General Hospital
• 
  Manila North Cemetery
• 
  Manila Chinese Cemetery

• 
  Chinatown (Plaza Santa Cruz), Third Welcome Gate (Arch of Goodwill) to Ongpin Street towards Binondo
• 
  Ongpin Commercial Center
• 
  Bank of the Philippine Islands at Don Román Santos Building, a neo-classical, Graeco-Roman structure at Plaza Goiti (now Plaza Lacson)
• 
  Carriedo Street with Plaza Lacson in the background
• 
  Commercial Buildings in Rizal Avenue
• 
  San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park (formerly the San Lázaro Racetrack)
• 
  Capitan Pepe Building

• 
  Bahay na bato house in Santa Cruz, Manila
• 
  Bahay na bato apartments in Santa Cruz, Manila
• 
  Period architecture in Santa Cruz, Manila
• 
  Bahay na Bato House in Bambang Rizal Avenue

• Aga Muhlach, actor and mataniee idol
• Teodora Alonso Realonda, mother side of Dr.Jose Rizal

• Spanish East Indies
• Spanish Filipino
• Philippine Spanish
• Chavacano
• Captaincy General of the Philippines

• Media related toSanta Cruz, Manila at Wikimedia Commons
• Santa Cruz, Manila travel guide from Wikivoyage
• https://brgy.info/zipcodes/1014_manila.php
• https://brgy.info/zipcodes/1003_manila.php

• Santa Cruz, Manila
• Districts of Manila
• 1619 establishments in the Spanish Empire
• Populated places established in 1619

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from December 2022
• Use Philippine English from December 2022
• All Wikipedia articles written in Philippine English
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension