artifacts. The ground floor serves as a function area and features works of several contemporary Lipeño visual artists. Religious monuments In 1605, Don Diego de Salcedo discovered a community of farmers living in fairly good economic conditions at Lake Bombon, now Tagbakin, Lipa City. The Augustinians among them started a religious mission called “Convent of San Sebastian in Comintang”. However, the residents noticed that the land area- residential and agricultural-was getting smaller due to the rising waters of Taal Lake, they transferred to Balete. But the site was submerged by the lake in 1754 after the eruption of Taal Volcano. To avoid a similar occurrence, the townsfolk decided to transfer the town to a place far from the lake and the volcano. Legend has it that they agreed to pray the rosary while walking and whenever they may be at the end of the 24th mystery, there the town would be relocated. And they walked upland, away from the lake and the volcano, and at the end of the 24th mystery, they reached what is now called Mataas na Lupa. The temporary poblacion and the church were thus resettled there. The location benefited everybody since it was along the main road that led to the coastal towns, the ground was high enough and the east winds were hedged in by high mountains. But after some time, the settlers had to seek another location due to the problem of water supply. The “better site” is the present site of the cathedral. The Augustinians administered the parish until the end of the 19th century. The first church building was made of light materials. The building of “serious architecture, proven solidity and great proportions” was begun in 1779 and finally completed in 1865, on the first year of Fr. Benito Varas who administered the town until 1894. The church was made of hewn stone and tiled roof, in accordance with the usual pattern of churches. It was a rectangular structure with artistically painted wooden panelings in lieu of an arch to which were attached support and strong beams which crisscrossed the walls to protect the building from earthquakes, attractive and had plain and simple altar ornaments without the extravagant carvings that were characteristic of the past century. During the 19th century, keen competition among Tanauan, Lipa, Batangas, Bauan and Taal for the choice of the seat of new diocese in the Southern Tagalog