RIZAL’s MONUMENTS AROUND THE WORLD.pptx

“RIZAL’S MONUMENTS AROUND THE WORLD” By: Sheila Mae L. Combalecer

INTRODUCTION MANILA, Philippines’ National hero Dr. Jose Rizal is recognized in many parts of the world for his intelligence and heroism, earning him at least 10 Rizal monuments in four continents around the world, Senator Richard Gordon said Friday.  At the commemoration of Rizal’s 148th birthday, the senator paid tribute to the national hero.  Jose Rizal showed us that even if we were colonized by foreign nations, we can refuse to be bound by them, by having a vision and strengthening our values. He showed that Filipinos could excel and compete with the best, he said in a statement. 

INTRODUCTION Jose Rizal was the first Filipino to break the walls in his mind, walls which were built by the foreign invaders. Other countries also recognize his heroism and have chosen to erect monuments in his honor,? he added.  Gordon pointed out that Filipinos should be proud that other nations recognize that Rizal?s short but meaningful life is an ideal model which shows that a person can achieve far beyond what he may seem to reach if only he has a vision and strives hard to achieve it. 

A RIZAL PARK IN NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA AS A FITTING TRIBUTE TO RIZAL’S HEROISM. (EARLIER, THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SAID A 2.2HECTARE PROPERTY IN THE CITY OF CAMPBELLTOWN, NEW SOUTH WALES WILL BE DEVELOPED TO BECOME THE RIZAL PARK IN AUSTRALIA. IT WAS THROUGH THE INITIATIVE OF A GROUP OF FILIPINO-AUSTRALIANS AND THEIR FRIENDS WHO PETITIONED THE CITY COUNCIL OF CAMPBELLTOWN TO NAME IT RIZAL PARK. AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER KEVIN RUDD GAVE A$120,000 FOR THE INITIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE PARK WHILE THE CAMPBELLTOWN CITY COUNCIL WILL PROVIDE ANOTHER A$140,000.)

SEATTLE WASHINGTON, LOCATED ON 12TH AVENUE ON BEACON HILL 



a site of Dr. Jose Rizal Park is a favorite gathering and picnic spot for members of the Filipino community. Mayor Charles Royer (b. 1939) and Philippine Consul General Ernesto A. Querubin dedicated the park and the bridge named for the Philippine national hero on June 7, 1981. The 8.4-acre park has a commanding view of the Seattle waterfront and Puget Sound

MONUMENT IN

HAWAII 

This was a project of the Kauai Filipino Community Council with about twelve members. The picture was taken by Jocelyn S. Denoga in Kauai (May 1997).

THIS IS THE MONUMENT IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 

The Dr. Jose Rizal monument located along Lake Shore Drive and Marine Drive between Lawrence and Wilson Avenue in front of Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago came about through the courtesy of the Philippine Government during the commemoration of the Centennial of Philippine Independence in 1998.



The unveiling of Dr. Jose Rizal monument was held on June 19, 1999.



The project was the initiative and efforts of the Order of the Knights of Rizal and the Filipino-American community organizations.



A plaque recognizing the project’s major benefactors was installed and displayed in nearby Margate Park Fieldhouse

RIZAL PARK IN AUSTRALIA 

Rizal Park was inaugurated in the City of Ballarat, State of Victoria, on Sunday, 12 December 1999. Located in the suburb of Invermay, Ballarat, the facility is the first Park in Australia named after Dr. Jose Rizal.

OLDEST MONUMENT OF RIZAL IN CAMARINES NORTE 

The first Jose Rizal monument that was ever built was built in Daet which stands at the corner of Magallanes and Justo Lukban streets which faces the Daet Municipal Hall. This monument was erected in 1898 in honor of the Philippine National Hero and consists of a three-tiered stone pylon with a square base supporting a triangle in two stages, the last one tapering to a point. It was believed that the foundation was made of mortars and boulders from the Old Spanish Jail where many Filipino patriots died, further magnifying its historical and cultural significance. Lt. Col. Ildefonso Alegre and Lt. Col. Antonio Sanz of the Philippine Revolutionary Army initiated the construction which was eventually inaugurated on December 20, 1898.







Tallest Jose Rizal Statue in the World. Located at Calamba City, Laguna, Rizal's hometown. A 22-foot (6.9 m) bronze statue of Jose Rizal, ahich was created by Jonas Roces, stands in front of the new City hall of Calamba. Jose Rizal’s statue was inaugurated on his 150th birthday on June 19, 2011. The monument is located in the middle of the 6.7 hectare field which also serves as a sports venue for football tournaments.

THE RIZAL PARK AT THE BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY



It is located at the main campus in Malolos, Bulacan to honor our National hero, Jose P. Rizal.

JINJIANG, FUJIAN, CHINA 



Rizal's statue in Jinjiang, Fujian, China is enshrined in a 5-hectare park built and named in his honor. The monument made of the world-famous Jinjiang granite stones, stands 18.61 meters high, taller than the 12-meter high Rizal statue in Luneta The great-great grandfather of Jose Rizal was Chinese trader Cua Yi Lam, baptized Domingo Lamco in the Philippines in 1697. He was once a resident of ZhangGuo province and a citizen of China. In 2002, to recognize Rizal's Chinese ancestral roots, an exact replica of the monument of Jose Rizal at the Luneta Park was built in the heart of the southern Chinese city of Jinjiang. The monument is made of Jinjiang granite stones and is about six meters taller than the 12-meter monument in Manila. It is built on a park of five hectares, soon also to be the site of a Rizal library and museum.

CHERRY HILL, NEW JERSEY 

This monument was inspired by the many Filipino-Americans living in the immediate area. This spot is called the Rizal Memorial Park which is situated in Memorial Grove, all which is a part of Cooper River Park, run by Camden County Parks.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 

The site of Dr. Jose Rizal Park is a favorite gathering and picnic spot for members of the Filipino community. The meadow slope site was transferred to the parks Department in 1971, and was named after Dr. Jose Rizal three years later. Rizal was a Filipino patriot who, during his short life, made lasting contributions to medicine, political and social reform, engineering and a large number of other disciplines. He was executed as a result of being accused of complicity in the Filipino insurrection of 1896. The park was formally dedicated in 1979.

JOSE RIZAL MONUMENT IN JAPAN (HIBIYA PARK) 

"The bust of Dr. Jose P. Rizal has been added to this historical marker on the occasion of the CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE 1898-1998.”

RIZAL PARK IN LITOMERICE, CZECH REPUBLIC 

Litomerice has a sister-city agreement with Calamba, and so Rizal figures prominently in town. There is a small Rizal Park behind the Town Hall, and there are busts of Rizal all over the Town Hall and the Mayor’s Office. There is a bust of Rizal by a local artist in the old Town Hall, but there is no marker in the building that used to be the Hotel Krebs where Rizal and Maximo Viola stayed. We were informed that the original guest book that Rizal signed was not in town but kept in the archives outside town.

LA MOLINA IN LIMA, PERU 







This was unveil last November 22, 2008 led by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The bronze bust of Dr. Jose Rizal was designed by Czech sculptor Hanstroff and is mounted atop a monument-type pedestal base where the four inaugural plaque markers are mounted on each quadrilateral side. Inscribed on one marker are the words, ―Dr. Jose P. Rizal, Héroe Nacional de Filipinas, Nacionalista, Reformador Political, Escritor, Linguistica y Poeta, 1861-1896.‖ Inscribed on another marker are the formal inaugural rites led by President Arroyo and witnessed by Prada. The establishment of Rizal Park here was made possible through the collaborative efforts of the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Peru and the municipality of La Molina.

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO 

In Mexico, the DFA said Philippine Chargé d'Affaires Angelo Amonoy, Embassy personnel and members of the Filipino community conducted solemn but fitting commemorative rites with the theme "Rizal: Haligi ng Bayan" at the Rizal Monument in Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City.

MADRID, SPAIN

RIZAL’S MONUMENT IN MADRID SPAIN Rizal’s monument was inaugurated December 5, 1996 along the Avenida de Las Islas Filipinas in Madrid to commemorate the 100th year of hi death.  The inauguration was part of the celebrations marking the centennial of the Philippine Independence from Spain.  The statue was made by the late Filipino sculptor Florante ―Boy‖ Caedo. 

MI ULTIMO ADIOS- MADRID, SPAIN

THE STORY OF THE RIZAL MONUMENT 



Built by virtue of the United States Philippine Commission Act No. 243, dated September 28, 1901, the Rizal monument was approved by no less than United States President Theodore Roosevelt. The act stipulated the allocation of land in the Luneta to build the memorial, near where Rizal fell when he was executed by the Spaniards on December 30, 1896. It also specified that the monument bear the statue of Rizal, as well as serve as the final resting place of his remains. To fund the project, a Rizal committee was set up to raise funds from public solicitations. The committee— whose members included Paciano Rizal (Rizal’s brother), and Tagalog novelist Pascual Poblete–was also tasked to hold a design contest for the future monument. In 1905, when the committee gathered enough funds, it announced the art competition. Local and foreign sculptors were invited to participate, with the year 1907 as the deadline of submission. It was a reasonable period of time to conceptualize and design a scale model for the future Rizal national monument. The grand prize winner would be awarded a cash prize of P5,000, as well as the P100,000-contract to build the monument. It was a huge sum during that time and thus many sculptors, including some of the best in Europe, participated.





Forty artists submitted their bozetos (scale models) in 1907. From these forty, ten bozetos made it to the finals. Some of the bozetos were titled ―Noli Me Tangere‖ (Rizal’s first novel), ―Motto Stella‖ (Guiding Star), ―1906‖, ―Al Martir de Bagumbayan‖, ―Eripitur Persona Manet Res‖, ―F.F‖, ―Victoria‖, and ―Maria Clara.‖ The bozetos were exhibited in the Marble Hall of the Ayuntamiento in Intramuros. The judges, all nonartists, were headed by then American Governor of the Philippines Frank Smith. Extant photographs of the exhibit revealed the superior qualities of the finalists. Most were meticulously made in the Art Nouveau style that was very popular at that time. After thorough deliberation, the jury reached a decision. They awarded the P5,000-grand prize to bozeto No. 21 entitled ―Al Martir de Bagumbayan‖ designed by the famous Italian sculptor Carlo Nicoli of Carrara, Italy. The jury gave the second prize to bozeto No. 9 entitled ―Motto Stella‖ by the Swiss sculptor Richard Kissling. Kissling received a P2,000 cash prize.

BOZETO FINALISTS

AL MARTIR DE BAGUMBAYAN BY CARLO NICOLI

MOTTO STELLA BY RICHARD KISSLING







As the first prize winner, Carlo Nicoli was supposed to have been awarded the contract to build the monument in the Luneta. However, for some reason the contract went instead to second-prize winner Richard Kissling, for his bozeto. Some speculated that Nicoli’s intricate design would cost so much more than the P100,000 budget to build the monument. Indeed, Nicoli’s bozeto required installations of intricate parts that were lacking in the Philippines and needed to be imported from Italy. Nicoli also specified that in order to construct the bozeto faithfully, Carara marble (the famed marble that was favored by Italian sculptors like Michaelangelo and Bernini), must be used. Of course, the contract stipulated that all materials would be from local sources. There was also a theory that Nicoli backed out of the contract because he failed to put up the P20,000-peso bond as guarantee to finish the monument. Or that Nicoli was not able to come to the signing of the contract. Whatever the case, Richard Kissling was eventually awarded the contract, and his ―Motto Stella‖ bozeto was the one upon which construction was started in 1908.



In comparison with Nicoli’s grand prize-winning bozeto, Kissling’s model was more streamlined, and almost lacks the grandeur that befits the greatest hero of the land. Indeed, when news of the change of model spread, some of the local press criticized Kissling’s model. A newspaper caricature poked fun at its design. Some unscrupulous people even put forward the ridiculous suggestion that the famous Filipino painter Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo should inspect and modify the design. In fairness to Hidalgo, he might not even have known of the suggestion and even if he did, would most likely have rejected the idea. Indeed the suggestion was quickly rejected by the jury. Meanwhile the work on the monument was already in progress. The figure of Rizal was cast in bronze while the obelisk and the base were sculpted from unpolished granite.





In retrospect, looking at the extant photographs of the two bozetos now, the change in the design was, in my opinion, highly propitious. Nicoli’s design was, of course, aesthetically speaking, more beautiful to look at. No one will ever doubt that it was designed by a master, as indeed Nicoli was. But it also looked very European with all its elaborate designs. It would have been perfect in a city such as Rome or Vienna. But in Manila’s Luneta—with its then grassy fields– it would have looked totally out of place. The strength of Kissling’s design—which was perhaps well appreciated by the jury who adjudged it second prize—was its stark simplicity. Rizal’s posture in the bozeto was subtle but heroic. The hero, attired in his usual overcoat and holding a book in his hand, was depicted as if looking towards the breaking of dawn after the long troubled night. The figures beside him are very strong symbols of a struggling nation’s hope for a better future through progress and education—a mother rearing her beloved child, and the evocative figures of two young Filipino boys ardently reading. Of all the entries, it was the only one that approached the embodiment of the very ideals of Rizal: family, education, and enlightenment.

Every time I visit the Rizal monument, I always feel proud and fortunate to be a Filipino, having been born a free man because of Rizal’s martyrdom. Our forefathers—our beloved Rizal among them– were not so fortunate to see the light of dawn emerge from the darkness.  On the sixteenth death anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal on December 30, 1912, as the monument was nearing completion, the remains of the national hero was transferred through a solemn procession from the Ayuntamiento to the Rizal monument. A year later, on December 30, 1913, the monument was unveiled to the public. 

THE RIZAL MONUMENT IN LUNETA PARK TODAY