Rizal is a very fantastic diary writer. He could describe everything that happened to his day in detail. At barely eleven he went to Manila to study in the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and University of Santo Tomas. His Manila is the Manila after the 1863 earthquake. Let’s peek into some places in Manila that the national hero left an imprint. Sadly some of these places don’t exist anymore, or transferred to the other sites.
Ateneo Municipal de Manila. Who will deny that Rizal is the greatest product of the Jesuit Fathers back in the Spanish Period and even today? He studied here for his Bachelor of Arts and he also studied Surveying in this same institution. The Old Ateneo Campus is in the corner of Calle Anda and Calle Arsobispo in Intramuros, currently the clamshell area. Ateneo is located now in Loyola Heights in Quezon city.
University of Santo Tomas, he studied to become a Doctor of Medicine in the University. He did not finish studying here because he sailed to Spain and continued his Medical Education in Madrid. The old university site is in Calle Santo Tomas in front of Colegio de Santa Rosa where his mother got her education. BF building currently occupies the site and the University is now in Sampaloc, Manila.
Manila Cathedral. It was in the cathedral bell tower that Rizal rescued a tangled kite to comfort a younger Ateneo Interno. The event was immortalized in the folk song Sarangola ni Pepe.
Hotel de Oriente. after the release of the Noli. Amid warnings from friends and family due to the controversy stirred by the Noli, Rizal came home after a long time in Europe. Before he went back to Calamba, they stayed in the Hotel de Oriente in Binondo specifically in Room 22 where a good view of the Binondo Church is seen. Hotel de Oriente is also the first luxury hotel in the Philippines. The Hotel was destroyed during the war.
Intramuros. When Rizal became an boarding student both in the Ateneo and UST, he used to live and walk within this walls. At 6 Calle Santo Tomas, he will board in his uncle’s house and will meet Leonor Rivera. In 1896, the last moments of his life will be spent in the Cuartel de Espana (PLM Site) for his military trial, Fort Santiago for his detention and the Postigo del Palacio in his exit in the Walled City and entry to martyrdom.
Also, his 2 Novels are all set in Manila, aside from the fictional Tiani and San Diego. Here are some places in Manila that was included in Rizal’s literary works, not all confined to the 2 Novels.
Calle Anloage. The Noli starts at a feast in Kapitan Tiago’s house located in this street. The street is now called Juan Luna Street.
Fonda de Lala. This is the hotel where the Noli hero Ibarra stayed the night after he met Maria Clara again and before he went back to San Diego.
In the Chapter VIII of the Noli, he described the Escolta as Such:
“The Escolta appeared less beautiful inspite of the fact that an imposing building with caryatids carved on its front row now occupied the place of the old row of shops.”In the Fili, Escolta was the address of the hero, Simoun.
Santa Clara nunnery. Women entering the nunnery alive are never seen again by the relatives. It was the fate the heroine of the Noli Maria Clara accepted upon hearing the news of the death of her beloved Ibarra.
Pansiteria Macanista de Buen Gusto. This is where the students convened after the failure of the movement for the establishment of an Academy for the Spanish Language. Yes, the place existed. Before coffee shops, it was the pansiteria where Filipinos have their important functions.
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