Jose Rizal Archives - Page 2 of 3

Rizal Park, Part 4: the Rizal element

December 30, 2015December 30, 2011 by The Urban Roamer

Of course, no trip to Rizal Park would be complete without a visit to the main attraction of the park, none other than the Rizal Monument itself. While this monument serves to represent the greatness of the country’s national hero, it is also a symbol of the way things work in the country, of how plans don’t turn out the way they’re supposed to be, for the better or otherwise.

As I mentioned some posts ago, the Americans when they gazed upon what was then Bagumbayan Field already saw it as a potential center of the burgeoning power of the United States in the Philippines. And with Burnham’s vision of a “Manila Beautiful” set on the drawing board at least in 1905, the US colonial government was determined make that dream of Manila’s National Mall into reality. The first order of business is getting what would be Manila’s counterpart Washington monument for this planned Manila National Mall.

Rizal Park, Part 1: Beginning at Bagumbayan

December 30, 2015December 10, 2011 by The Urban Roamer

This Holiday season, and also in commemoration of this year being the 150th birth year anniversary of our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, the Urban Roamer pays tribute to Rizal and the ever popular metropolitan destination, especially this season, named after him

Unless there are any disputes to this, (of which I am certain are just few and not that significant) there is no doubt that Manila’s number 1 tourist attraction would be the Rizal Park. In fact, Rizal Park is seen by some as what Manila is all about. While this perception may be unfair to the rich landscape the city has to offer, for good or ill, its popularity as Manila’s top destination among locals and tourists alike has made the park inextricably linked to the city, a showcase of what’s good and not so good of the city and the country as a whole encapsulated in its 50-hectare area. In a way, Rizal Park is Manila’s equivalent to New York City’s Central Park, only with a Statue of Liberty of sorts.

Rizal, Santo Tomas, and Sampaloc

August 3, 2014June 18, 2011 by The Urban Roamer

As you may have noticed these past few entries, we have devoted space in this blog on the University of Santo Tomas campus. But on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of the Philippines’ National Hero, Jose Rizal, allow me to take a little diversion of this trip to talk about this school’s “relationship” with our hero.

a photo of Rizal in his late teens, possibly around the time he was a UST student

To anyone with some knowledge of Rizal’s biography, it is a well-known fact that Rizal entered University of Santo Tomas in 1877 and managed to get a degree in Philosophy and Letters two years later. He then proceeding to medicine, ophthalmology to be precise, for the next 2 years before going to Spain to finish medicine and get his degree.

Paco Park: from mournings to weddings

October 28, 2014November 8, 2010 by The Urban Roamer

These days, you may find it weird that a park can be situated in an unlikely neighborhood of sorts, surrounded by buildings and commercial establishments, right in the middle of intersecting roads which make it look like a rotunda plaza. Despite how “unfriendly” the site of Paco Park is today, it holds so much historical and cultural value that it has deserved the needed attention and preservation, all the more so now as urbanization and the decay it has brought is a serious threat not only to the park’s landscape but throughout the city as well.