Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
miraculous wooden icon that came to the country on board a galleon from Spain
in 1606 (it was enshrined here in 1787). The venerated life-size image carries a
cross and is on display under glass at the back of the church (behind the altar to
the left). On the edge of the nave, hunched old women will, for a fee, tell your
fortune, pray the rosary for you or light candles for lost loved ones. The church
burnt down in 1928 and was expanded in the 1980s to accommodate the crowds
that gather every year on January 9 for the
Feast of the Black Nazarene
, when
200,000 barefoot Catholic faithful from all over the Philippines come together to
worship the image.
1
Ilalim ng Tulay
LRT to Carriedo
The area around Quiapo Church is a good area for bargain-hunters (see p.100). Several
stores that sell
handicrafts
at local prices are squeezed beneath the underpass leading to
Quezon Bridge (aka Quiapo Bridge) on Quezon Boulevard, a place known as
Ilalim ng
Tulay
(“under the bridge” or just Quiapo Ilalim).
University of Santo Tomas Museum
2/F, Main Building, University of Santo Tomas (UST), España Blvd • Tues-Sat 8.30am-4.30pm (closed university hols) • P50 •
T
02 781 1815,
W
ustmuseum.ust.edu.ph • 20min walk (or a short ride on any jeepney marked UST) from Recto LRT station, via
Lerma and España Blvd
he
University of Santo Tomas Museum
is a marvellous throwback to the nineteenth
century, an old-fashioned but fascinating private collection of historic documents, rare
topics and dusty displays on ethnology, natural history, archeology and arts. Indeed,
the collection dates back to 1871 and includes a stuffed orang-utan, a chair used by
Pope John Paul II and a macabre two-headed calf. There's also some medieval coins,
an assemblage of religious statues, a rather incongruous collection of Chinese porcelain,
and some decent art, including
Pounding Rice
(1940) by Vicente Manansala, who also
created the stunning, Cubist-influenced
History of Medicine
murals adorning the lobby
of UST's medicine faculty in 1958.
UST itself has an interesting history. It was founded in Intramuros in 1611,
making it the oldest university in Asia, with the current campus established in
the 1920s; it served as an internment camp during World War II, while the old
campus was virtually destroyed in 1944. Today the university is much larger than
it seems from the entrance, with the
Main Building
an impressive Spanish Revival
pile completed in 1927, and the elegant
Arch of the Centuries
above the main
entrance on España Boulevard combining the ruins of the original arch of 1611
and its 1950s replica.
The Chinese Cemetery
South Gate entrance off Aurora Blvd, 4km north of Binondo • Daily 7.30am-7pm • Free • LRT to Abad Santos
The monumental
Chinese Cemetery
was established by a
uent Chinese
merchants in the 1850s because the Spanish would not allow foreigners to be
buried in Spanish cemeteries. Entire streets are laid out to honour the dead and
to underline the status of their surviving relatives. Many of the tombs resemble
houses, with fountains, balconies and, in at least one case, a small swimming pool.
Many even have air conditioning for the relatives who visit on All Saints' Day,
when lavish feasts are laid on around the graves with empty chairs for the departed.
It has become a sobering joke in the Philippines that this “accommodation” is
among the best in the city.
