A Rendezvous with Rizl: The Shrine

It is truly a wonderful experience to step inside the house of the Philippines national hero. Just this afternoon after my daily driving lessons I figured that I might just visit the city proper where beside one of the parish churches in Calamba City, a house belongs to him, the author of two revolutionary novels lived his youth: Dr. Jos Protcio Rizl Mercdo Alnso Realnda. Rizal was born on 19 June 1861 in Calamba, Laguna, as the youngest son and seventh child of Don Francisco Rizal Mercado and Dona Teodora Alonso Realonda. The house that exists today was actually only a replica built in the 1950s by Arch. Juan F. Nakpil, closely resembling the old house which was the first of its kind built in the old pueblo; the original Rizal house was the first stone and hardwood house in Calamba, owing to the prosperity of the Mercado clan; Don Francisco himself was a tenant in the pueblo which was a Dominican hacienda since 1883. It is also built in the ilustrado style which was the norm for middle-class Filipinos in the 19th century; its main features include extended second floors to provide shelter from the sun and rain for pedestrians below, extended terraces, and layered masonry (wood for the upper floors and stone for the lower floor). The Rizal Shrine, as it is officially called, consists of not just the Rizal house, but also a huge tract of land on which a small museum, souvenir shop, parents graves, and a small hut in which Rizal and his sisters played while they were still young. There is no fee needed to enter the house and the lot on which it was located. There is only a log book for visitors and a donation box for optional donations. Once you enter the house, you would first see the dimmed room on the first floor, with its stone walls, murals about Calamba and Rizal, as well as some of his awards in his youth (Just before you enter the house, there is an empty calesa used by Don Francisco which is now off-limits to visitors.). There is also a grand staircase from which you can access the upper floor, which is much more

spacious than the first floor. The walls are made of wood, and the atmosphere is airy and light, although the wooden flooring always creaks whenever someone walks on the upper floor. The furniture is also grand and shows how prosperous the family was during the old times. Typical of any 19th-century Filipino house, the grand staircase always leads to the living room where some furniture are placed in such a way to welcome guests and to provide a pleasant atmosphere to all who enter the house. From the living room, turn right and you can see the childrens bedroom. The bed is very grand for it made me remember those beds with ceilings in the previous centuries, complete with doorposts. Also, the classical gasera which uses oil to light up the room is there, as was the common sight for ilustrado houses of the past (the lower classes can only afford a simple candle to light their houses, and electricity was unknown even to Manila until 1892). On the other side of the living room are the masters bedroom and the dining room with gallant utensils kept in the cupboards, including the china cups and silver cutlery. The masters bedroom has a king-sized bed of the 19th-century fashion, plus a small altar and a lavatory. This is where Don Kiko (Francisco) and Dona Lolay (Teodora) slept, and the room also includes a small bed for the baby. Beyond the dining room is the kitchen where there is still a lot of pottery which was used for cooking. The Rizal family had few frying pans back then, so most of their viands are not fried, but instead either stewed or soupy. However, knowing that there is a lot of pottery in the kitchen, there is a huge variety of dishes that the family can cook, especially Dona Lolay, who was known to cook a wide variety of Filipino dishes which she also taught to her daughters. A door leads outside the dining room towards the terrace with a small staircase leading out to the garden. In the 1950s a lift was included, but it is no longer used. Before descending the staircase, looking towards your left is the bathroom, and there are no toilets with flushes back in the old times. Compare this house to the recent times, there still exists an atmosphere of ancientness and luxury, but keep in mind that the Rizals are not showy, but austere.

Since I myself lived in Calamba City for 13 years now, I am familiar with the Rizal Shrine. The remains of Don Kiko and Dona Lolay are entombed beneath a granite tombstone surrounded by Philippine flags. There is also a hut in the center of the lot where Pepe (Rizals nickname) and his sisters played when they were still young; it was surrounded by various flowers which they grew. On the other side of the lot is the museum, containing artworks from paintings to sculptures. Outside the museum is a collection of murals from a recent painting contest, therefore it is contemporary. Inside the museum are paintings depicting Rizal in his last moments. There are also memorabilia inside the museum, such as his life-size clothes (there are also replicas in the Rizal Museum in Fort Santiago), a sculpture of his bust, and recently, tarpaulin posters about his Grand Tour of Europe with Dr. Maximo Viola, showcasing different locations on which they both went, such as Hotel Metropole in Vienna. Adjacent to the small museum is a set of multi-purpose halls that can be used for conferences or meetings, and beside those halls is a souvenir shop selling products that are native from Calamba. Also, there are two replicas of the Rizal house located in the area: one in a smaller scale inside the museum while there is another half-sized model outside the museum. Rizals most famous poem, Mi Ultimo Adios, is also displayed inside the museum, in its original (Spanish) form and the English and Tagalog translations. I assure you that your visit to the Rizal Shrine in Calamba will be very worth it. There are many (untouched) memorabilia that will instantly remind you of your history as a citizen of what was once part of a Spanish empire. Yes they might be out of sync with the times today, but they are a very important tool for you to recall your past. Besides, its free to enter, but if it is in you, you can donate and contribute in improving the maintenance of this very important treasure in Philippine history and architecture. GIAN PAULO A. AUSTRIA, MIT-ECE/3 27 2114H MARCH 2013

Trivia about the National Hero

NOTE: Some of these will actually come up in your RZL10 classes. 1. Rizal is derived from the Spanish word ricial which means green fields. 2. Don Francisco is born in todays Binan City, while Dona Teodora is a native of todays Calamba City. 3. There are actually eleven children in the Rizal clan, but Concepcion (born in 1862) died at age three (1865). She is the eighth child after Jose. Thus the order is as follows (from eldest to youngest): Saturnina, Paciano, Narcisa, Olimpia, Lucia, Maria, Jose, Concepcion, Josefa, Trinidad, and Soledad. 4. Calamba was then a hacienda owned by the Dominicans since 1883, and by the Jesuits from 175968 when they were expelled. 5. Jose was baptized by Fr. Rufino Collantes and his godfather was Fr. Pedro Casanas. Calambas parish priest then was Fr. Leoncio Lopez, whom Jose used as inspiration for the character of Padre Florentino in El Fili. (The baptismal font used for Joses baptism was preserved in the church beside the Rizals house.) 6. Joses first teachers are part of the Rizal family: his nurse/yaya (Aquilina) and his mother (Dona Teodora). 7. Joses romances in the Philippines are as follows (in order): Segunda Katigbak (from Lipa City, Batangas), Miss L (whom his father disapproves of), Leonor Valenzuela (aka Orang, his love when he is studying in UST), Leonor Rivera (from whom he was inspired for the character of Maria Clara), and Josephine Bracken (unofficially his wife because they did not marry under either civil or religious procedures). 8. Jose did not complete his medical studies at UST because he was disappointed at the system of education there, and completed his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid.

9. It is worth 300 pesos (in those times) to publish 2000 copies of the Noli during Joses time, but he would have not been able to publish it if Dr. Maximo Viola did not help him (Viola loaned Jose the money, which the latter paid back soon.). 10. Jose considered Paris as the costliest city in Europe, and Tokyo as the most expensive city in the world. 11. Joses best friend is Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austrian professor and anthologist. 12. Joses romances abroad are (not in particular order): Suzanne Jacoby, Nellie Boustead (a Protestant), Consulo Ortga Prez (but he did not engage with her because of Leonor Rivera and COPs boyfriend, Eduardo de Lete), and Seiko Usui (aka O-Sei-San; among his romances other than Bracken and Rivera, Joses relationship with Usui is the most romantic). 13. Jose established the La Liga Filipina, a Filipino version of the Propaganda Movement, and the RDLM (Redencion de los Malayos), which is a secret society aimed at liberating the Malay race from the foreigners. 14. Valentin Ventura helped Jose publish the El Fili. 15. During his exile in Dapitan, Jose applied his engineering skills to bring running water to the town, taught the youth for free in exchange for community service, was convinced to be the leader of the Katipunan by Dr. Pio Valenzuela, and was convinced to return to Catholicism by his former professor in the Ateneo (Padre Sanchez). 16. Jose volunteered to be a military physician in Cuba in 1896 and was initially permitted by Gov. Gen. Ramon Blanco, but later he was arrested at Barcelona at Montjuich by former Gov. Gen. Emiliano Despujol and then transported back to the Philippines to be tried. 17. The Mi Ultimo Adios is a fourteen-stanza, five-line poem that is written only in a very small piece of paper whose maximum length is 14 cm. 18. In the Fort Santiago, there are bronze footsteps that mark Joses exact steps as he marched towards Bagumbayan, and some

of these footprints are visible along Bonifacio Drive (which was previously known as the Malecon). 19. Joses exact death came three minutes later from the appointed time of execution (he was scheduled to be shot at 7:00 a.m. on 30 December 1896, but he died at 7:03.). 20. Leonor Rivera was married to Engr. Henry Kipping instead of Jose (just as Maria Clara was married to Alfonso Linares de Espadana instead of Juan Crisostomo Ibarra and Paulita Gomez to Juanito Pelaez instead of Isagani).