It is part of Cagsawa Park, is protected and maintained by the municipal government of Daraga and the National Museum of the Philippines, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the area.

[1] A preliminary excavation of the Cagsawa ruins by the Bulacan State University, show that the Spanish incorporated Mesoamerican influences in constructing the complex.

[9][10] On February 1, 1814, the strongest eruption recorded to date of the Mayon volcano buried the town of Cagsawa and its surrounding areas under several hundred million cubic meters of tephra and lahar,[7][11] killing an estimated 2,000 people.

Hundreds of inhabitants of the town of Cagsawa purportedly sought refuge in the church, but were also killed by pyroclastic flows and lahar.

[16] Survivors of the 1814 eruption resettled into the nearby Daraga, which was then a mere barrio of the destroyed town of Cagsawa, and decided to merge the two.

[6] In addition, Cagsawa also provides all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) tours which allow tourists to trail down the lava front in Barangay Mabinit.

[23] On February 1, 2014, the province of Albay commemorated the 200th anniversary of the 1814 eruption by holding the Cagsawa Festival, “Cagsawa Dos Siglos”, as tribute to the strength and resiliency of the people in Albay, and also as a reminder of the dangers of living near an active volcano and their commitment to disaster risk reduction.