A FEU Good Men

Five years down and I’m still impressed!Yes, it’s been five years since I took my first walking tour of the fabulous Far Eastern University Campus conducted by the Heritage Conservation Society. I’ve been raving about it until recently. Well, I decided to check it out once more yesterday and joined a tour, this time by the Museum Foundation of the Philippines.

I’ll have the pictures speak for themselves.

To start-off, a bird’s eye view of the FEU Campus and the University belt of Manila in the University’s spanking new 9-storey East Asia College Building…

Then it was off to the Administration building, a 1940’s (?) Art-Deco structure which forms one face of the quadrangle. Streamlined Chic.

And the lobby, you just gotta love Deco-esque interplay of geometry and colors (official green and gold of course!) Very simple yet it works.

A frieze by Italian sculputor Monti depicting the Chinese arrival (followed by Spanish and American) to the country. Nice touch.

End of the line and up via the Deco elevators of the building.

Oh, and you do the speak the King’s language do you? (Spell ‘epol’….)

Out the quadrangle and this time and on to National Artist Vicente Manansala’s sculptures. A rare treat indeed since the guy was a painter and rarely did sculptures.

The chapel main altar and this time to National Artist Botong Francisco’s inspiring artworks…now that’s class!

An outstanding mural rendition of the Catholic Stations of the Cross….wonderful! But needs cleaning though…

Back inside one one of the buildings. Climbing stairs = six-pack abs?? How inspiring!

In any case, even if it didnt deliver as promised, the stairs of FEU are a delight to climb….see? Art-Deco to the last detail!

The founder and builders really took a step further to imprint the Tamaraw pride to its students. This banister reads FEU!

With stairs such as these, who’d want to use the elevator???

Everything is a piece of sculpture!

My personal favorite!

This is the library. A funky mix of 1950’s tables(in tropical hard woods no less!) and circa Y2K furnishings! Ahh…the joys of reading….

The fully-restored theater and its ‘fools the eye’ detail that, again, proclaims FEU!

My favorite mural at the entrance to the theater. It’s called ‘Empowering the Youth’ and is a stunning stylized (Art-Deco of course!) representation that was meant to inspire the youth. Did it? I don’t know but it certainly inspired me and some of the tour participants!

The grand finale…a sweeping view of the huge(and recently restored!) FEU quadrangle from the rostrum outside the theater!

A truly awesome way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon…my hat’s off to the FEU management and personnel for sharing your jewel taking the Tamaraw pride to the next level!

That UNESCO Award was truly worth every bit!

 

Cemetery Musings

Cemetery Musings

Ok, so it may not be everybody’s ideal walking rendezvous but truth be told, I find cemeteries to be one of those eerily fascinating places to be. Let me cite the reasons:

1. A well-tended cemetery is always a peaceful haunt. Really.

2. Cemeteries are a class unto themselves. I mean the high class and the lower end.
You know when they say that death is life’s great leveller? Well, scroll down and think again…

3. Cemeteries are oversized architectural story books. And this is the type that you’d appreciate when there’s daylight as opposed to bedtime.

Now, a great city worth its salt has to have a famous cemetery. Think Paris and Pere la Chaise, Washington D.C. and Arlington, Prague and the Jewish Cemetery. Of course here in Manila, one would immediately think of the American Memorial Cemetery in Fort Bonifacio or her equally famous sister, the Chinese Cemetery in the district of Sta. Cruz.

One lazy Sunday, I had time to kill before starting Mounds, Magnates and Mausoluems! and found myself within the confines of La Loma Catholic cemetery,the oldest among the 3 in the area (the Chinese and the North) and probally in the whole of Manila too.

What a treasure trove! Now, if you fancy historic architecture (well,the funerary variety that is) in their original setting, then head towards the La Loma Catholic Cemetery.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

The first big mausoleum that greets you, from the Cacho family (of publishers?) in the Art-Deco style. Can’t miss that oversized gaurdian angel.

Bless this favorite piece! Cute and classic Deco in all sides, from the Barredo family.

Loco over Deco! The Mayorlago-Santos mausoleum, done no less by the premiere, Pre-War marble works company in the Philippines- Oriol builders- fancy!

The Kahn family mausoleum, gorgeous for its geometric and calligraphic simplicity. Also done by Oriol.

Deco in all its purity at the Gonzales-Mondragon plot. Note the stylized Egypitian column so typical an Art-Deco motif in the 1920’s.

We are family…. The Araneta Deco sisters.

To cap off our Deco parade, this black-and-white streamlined plot!

Now, let’s move on and do Neo-Gothic this time…I give you, the Lim family mausoleum.

Stylized gothic…courtesy of the Pamintuan Family.

Twin gothic (horror?) and shades of Paris’ Pere Lachaise…?

The end of the line….alas, the dead are not spared from the perils of the ‘leaving’, this sign gives a stern warning to those who dare steal the dead’s wordly goods - crosses or what have you- for they, their parents, family, wife or children will certainly be punished by the thunderous wrath of God (death!)

Now that’s scary.

 

San Nicolas: Grace Under Pressure

When people want to have their historical fix in Manila, the first thing that comes to mind is the walled city of Intramuros.And rightly so, for Intramuros is Manila’s innermost sanctum - the place where the beginnings of the city was established. However, it’s not as old as what most people like to think.

Except for the San Agustin Church and parts of the walls, practically the whole of Intramuros is Post WWII Imeldific kitsch. If you want a glimpse (and smell!) of the real thing, check out San Nicolas district.

For the armchair-traveller, San Nicolas is a part of the third district of the city of Manila. Long overshadowed by her bigger and brasher big brother (Binondo aka ‘Chinatown’ ) , parts of San Nicolas is simply known to many as Divisoria- the biggest flea market in town.

Now, unlike the Manila’s other districts, San Nicolas carries no national lore of epic proportions like those we equate with Intramuros (the old capital) and Binondo (the financial hub), instead it has slumbered in obscurity for ithe last 400 years of its existence.

To this walker’s delight(!)

In San Nicolas we have what is probally Manila’s single largest concentration of Period houses and mind you, not the ‘old-new’ (bagong-luma) wannabe architecture that characterizes much of Intramuros. This is as true as it can get.

On a personal note, I can honnestly say this district is special, not just for every true-blue, heritage-loving Manileño but personally for this walker who, as a child, spent his early years amidst these beautiful wooden houses, playing on the very streets while sucking in the atmosphere of commerce, dark esteros and the overpowering smell of onions.

These days, the historic properties are still there. Though diminished substantially, they still provide a backdrop of what old Manila looked, felt and smelled like in the days of our ancestors.
What revolutions, earthquakes and a world war didnt destroy, our 21st century cavalier attitude eventually will. It’s a conststant battle between the old and new, commerce and culture, development and destruction, why can’t we get these acts together?

It’s only a matter of time before San Nicolas looses her special quality and turns into another concrete ,streamlined , homogenised Makati. Or Alabang. Or Whatever.

But before she does, let’s give her a last look. In her last gasp.

click here.