Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Just past the entrance to the site, on the left, is the Baluartillo de San Francisco Javier,
fortifications built in 1663 which now house the
Intramuros Visitors Center
, a shop and
a café. From here you can stroll through the gardens of
Plaza Moriones
to the fort
proper, marked by a stone gate, walls and a moat - most of what you see today has
been rebuilt in stages since the 1950s, after being virtually destroyed in 1945. Once
through the walls,
Plaza de Armas
forms a pleasant green square inside the old fort,
with a noble-looking
statue of José Rizal
in the middle.
1
Rizal Shrine
Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 1-5pm • Entry included with fort ticket
For most visitors the real highlight of Fort Santiago lies on the left side of Plaza de
Armas, where the
Rizal Shrine
occupies a reconstruction of the old Spanish barracks
(the brick ruins of the original are next door). The site is dedicated to
José Rizal
(see
p.439), the writer and national hero who was imprisoned here before being executed in
what became Rizal Park in 1896. On the ground floor, the Chamber of Texts preserves
some original copies of Rizal's work, while excerpts are artfully displayed on iron
girders. You can also peer into a reproduction of the room where he spent the hours
before his execution. Upstairs the Reliquary Room displays some of Rizal's clothing
and personal effects, while a larger hall houses the original copy of his valedictory
poem,
Mi Ultimo Adios
, the greatest, most poignant work of Philippine literature. The
poem was secreted in an oil lamp and smuggled out to his family; here it is displayed in
various languages around the walls (the original was written in Spanish). While even
the best English translations fail to capture the felicity of the original, they do give a
sense of the sacrifice Rizal was about to make and of his love of the country:
Farewell, my adored country, region beloved of the sun,
Pearl of the Orient Sea, our Eden lost,
Departing in happiness, to you I give the sad, withered remains of my life;
And had it been a life more brilliant, more fine, more fulfilled
I would have given it, willingly to you.
Rizaliana Furniture Exhibition
Daily 8am-6pm • P10 donation
The eighteenth-century
Baluarte de Santa Barbara
overlooking the Pasig River now
houses the mildly interesting
Rizaliana Furniture Exhibition
, showing off Rizal's Spanish
colonial writing tables, four-poster bed and the like. More significantly, the exhibit lies
above the infamous dungeon where around six hundred American and Filipino POWs
were incarcerated and left to drown by the rising tide in 1945. There is a cross and
memorial
outside to mark their final resting place.
Rizal Park and around
The area south of Intramuros is dominated by
Rizal Park
, Manila's primary green space
and the city's favourite meeting place since the Spanish era. On the fringes of the park
lie two of the most important museums in the country, the
National Art Gallery
and the
National Museum of the Filipino People
, while on the other side of Roxas Boulevard,
facing the bay, the
Manila Hotel
harks back to the city's golden age.
Rizal Park
Roxas Blvd • Daily 24hr • Free •
Orchidarium & Butterfly Pavilion
Tues-Sun 8am-5pm • P100 •
Japanese and Chinese gardens
Both
daily 6am-10pm • P10 •
W
rizalpark.nationalparks.ph • LRT to UN Avenue, then a short stroll north
Still referred to by its old Spanish name of “Luneta”,
Rizal Park
is a ten-minute walk
south of Intramuros. In a city notoriously short of greenery, the park was where the