Manila: When was the last time you visited Rizal Park?

I was at the HCS office today in Museo Pambata (former Elks Club Building) for an HCS Youth Chapter meeting. Several schools were represented including UP, UST, Ateneo, DLSU and Adamson. It just shows that the heritage advocacy is being powered by young people. The group has a lot of plans for the year. Check out the HCS website regularly for updates.

After the meeting, I walked to nearby Rizal Park. There are several important heritage buildings around the perimeter of the park including the Elks Club Building (Museo Pambata), the Luneta Hotel, Army & Navy Club and Manila Hotel which are all National Historical Landmarks, and the former Department of Finance and the current Department of Tourism buildings. Rizal Park itself is a National Historical Site being the execution site of several Philippine heroes and martyrs. While the Rizal Monument is one of three National Historical Monuments.

My stroll around the park was pleasant. The afternoon breeze was relaxing. The park is well-maintained and the landscaping was quite good except for the flagpole area (I don't remember seeing all those pots and volcanic rock at the base of the flagpole before), which I find cluttered and very kitsch! Whoever approved that should be fired!

Around the park were several monuments to the martyrs of Bagumbayan and markers at the sites of execution of Jose Rizal, and the three priests namely Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora. Across Roxas Boulevard was the Quirino Grandstand. If you notice a small marker with the number zero on it, that's Kilometer Zero which is the reference point for all road markers in Luzon. Anyway, after that short stroll, I went back home.

Technorati Tags: manila, philippines, heritage, historical sites, rizal park, architecture, travel blog

Manila: The FEU campus is fantastic!

I was at Far Eastern University (FEU) today for a campus tour with Ivan ManDy and all I could say is that the Art Deco buildings designed by Pablo Antonio, National Artist for Architecture, and the collection of art around campus are fantastic! I never thought that amidst the chaos of Recto and Quezon Boulevard is an oasis, a well-planned campus very conducive to learning. The designs of the new buildings are brilliant and blend perfectly with the old. The campus planners of DLSU should get lessons from the efficient use of space and the elegant designs and arrangement of buildings in FEU. It's no surprise the campus was recognized by UNESCO for heritage conservation.

As Ivan ManDy writes: "The Far Eastern University, located in Manila's chaotic and overcrowded University Belt, is the proverbial rose in a sea of thorns. Years of neglect... led to the [campus] falling into hard times, hardly a fit place to inspire the minds of our country's future [leaders]. But then the FEU administration decided... to roll up its sleeves and do something. In one fell swoop, [the campus] morphed from an uninviting, graffiti-infested, makeshift patchwork of classrooms, food-areas and dingy business stalls to [restore itself to] the gleaming Art Deco complex worthy of educating the best minds of the country.

"This is the FEU campus today, a touch of architectural class in a city that seems to have forgotten how beautiful she once was. That the university... is in the midst of one of the most high-density and polluted districts of the city did not deter FEU from battling urban blight head on. But what particularly makes the FEU campus noteworthy is that it proved to many how old buildings do not have to mean derelict and unfashionable. In fact they [the restored buildings] are hip and cool..."

"Buildings in the FEU campus were constructed between 1930-1950; they had been mostly designed by National Artist Pablo Antonio. Felipe Mendoza designed the other campus structures, notably the chapel. All of campus structures were restored to their original appearance. All new buildings were designed in a contemporary style compatible with the old. Without resorting to architectural mimicry of the heritage architecture, the new blended perfectly with the old."

One of the details which I liked were the bronze sculptures around the flagpole done by another National Artist Vicente Manansala. The quadrangle itself is well-planned with the Philippine flag serving as the center of life in campus. Also check out the "Stations of the Cross" murals of National Artist Carlos "Botong" Francisco in the chapel, and the sculpture murals of Francesco Monti and Art Deco mural of Simon Saulog both in the administration building. Watch out for the Old Manila Walks tour of FEU soon. More photos in Multiply.

Campus tour
Ateneo de Manila University
De La Salle University

Manila: Have you tried karting?

Tonight, I went kart racing at Kart Trak in Boom na Boom. My high school batch is celebrating its tenth year anniversary this year and this was the first in a series of events we've planned. This was the second time my batch organized a go kart enduro. Two years ago, we did it at the Manila SpeedZone in Fort Bonifacio. A go kart enduro can be an individual or team event. Each driver or team must make as many laps as they can in a given period of time. Tonight, we did a one and a half hour endurance race. And now my muscles ache! But it was all fun and I just wanted to share the photos with you in my Multiply and our batch page.