It is well known for its sett pavements and a unique architecture of the Spanish Philippines colonial era which fuses native Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial Spanish architecture that is still abundant in the area, mainly the bahay na bato houses and an Earthquake Baroque church.

In May 2015, Vigan was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Beirut, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and La Paz.

On board their ships were seafaring merchants who came to trade goods from other Asian kingdoms in exchange for gold, beeswax, and other mountain products brought by the indigenous peoples from the Cordillera region.

[13][14] In 1574, Salcedo returned to the capital of his encomienda (trusteeship), Vigan, bringing with him his soldiers and some Augustinian missionaries to pioneer the evangelization of the Ilocos region.

Separated from the indigenous population, the Chinese migrants were residents in a neighbourhood called El Pariancillo, los Sangleyes del parian (The Sangleyes of the Parian); and the Spanish settlers were residents in a town called Los Españoles de la Villa (The Town Spaniards).

Juan de la Fuente Yepes made a request to the King Fernando VI to move the Diocese of Nueva Segovia to Villa Fernandina due to the deteriorating status of Lal-lo.

In 1758, with the Royal Decree signed by Fernando VI, Villa Fernadina became Ciudad Fernandina de Vigan and the See of Nueva Segovia was transferred from Lal-lo, Cagayan.

[17] During the Philippine–American War, American forces led by Commander McCracken and Lt. Col. James Parker occupied the town in Nov.

In 1945, combined U.S. and Philippine Commonwealth ground troops, aided by Ilocano resistance fighters, defeated the Japanese Imperial forces and liberated Vigan.

8988, that "revalidated and recognized" Vigan's city status granted by virtue of the Royal Decree of September 7, 1757, issued by Ferdinand VI, King of Spain.

[8] On July 27, 2022, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck parts of Luzon,[21] damaging the city's UNESCO World Heritage sites including the Vigan Cathedral and old-century houses, as well as few power lines toppled along Calle Crisologo.

It serves as the capital of Ilocos Sur and has been a major political and trading center since before the Spanish colonizers arrived in the Philippines.

Vigan used to be separated from the rest of the mainland by the rivers of Abra, Mestizo and Govantes, making it an island during that time.

First, the Bantay Loam, located at the southern portion of Raois, has a land area of 36.67 hectares, and is good as pastureland.

The fourth, Bantog clay—considered as the most significant type for soil, and the best clay material for making pots, jars and all earthenware, has a land area of 31.65 hectares.

An important non-metallic mineral resource found in Vigan is the kind of clay that is used in making earthen jars locally called burnay.

The Vigan-Bantay Plain is bounded on the east by a moderately rugged Miocene sediments consisting of interbedded sandstones and shale to very rugged Meta-volcanics and Meta sediment topography; on the south is the Municipality of Santa where the north–south trending fault terminates; to the west is the South China Sea; while the northern boundary opens to the northern extension of the Ilocos coastal plain.

The drainage network of the eastern margin of Vigan-Bantay plain consist of deeply cut valleys whose pattern is strongly controlled by main faulting trends, particularly those in the northerly and easterly directions.

Vigan in particular is generally in level with several hills in Barangays Tamag, Bulala, and Salindeg, sometimes reaching about 50 meters in elevation and has a slope ranging from 3% to 8%.

Poverty Incidence of Vigan Source: Philippine Statistics Authority[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Vigan, belonging to the first congressional district of the province of Ilocos Sur, is governed by a mayor designated as its local chief executive and by a city council as its legislative body in accordance with the Local Government Code.

When Juan de Salcedo founded Vigan in 1572, he decided to pattern its urban plan with that of Intramuros, the walled city in Manila.

This pattern is detailed in the Ley de las Indias, the Law of the Indies, and was put into force in the 18th century.

Beside these religious structures is the church-run school, the Saint Paul College, known in its early days as the Colegio de Niñas.

This urban plan remained relatively intact despite wars and natural calamities that have been endured by Vigan since its foundation.

The Casa Real was replaced with a provincial capitol building during the American period when the original structure burned down.

The archdiocese seminary was also destroyed by fire in 1968, and it lay in ruins until the late 1990s, when part of a shopping mall was built on the site.

The metro Vigan transport system is mostly served by tricycles, which are color- and number-coded to identify their municipality of origin.

They operate direct and/or indirect bus services from Vigan City to points in Luzon, mostly to Manila, Baguio, and Laoag and vice versa.

There are also independent bus operators, who recently banded together to form different transport cooperatives,[46] plying the Laoag-Vigan-Carmen and Vigan-Abra routes, and have a joint terminal found at the New Vigan Public Market Annex.

The airport was once a dormant asset of the city for it does not generate revenue, with only chartered and private planes using it; it is currently being upgraded and is on its way toward commercialization.