Dapitan City is a very historical city for the Filipinos. Our national hero, Jose P. Rizal, was detained or exiled for many years. Visiting Dapitan City won’t be complete without having to visit the Rizal Shrine. Situated perfectly away from the City center, the Rizal Shrine is a property bought and owned by the late national hero where he built houses, school and hospital where he spent most of his life. Even when he was exiled, he continued to teach, learn and perform his duties as a writer, scientist and as a physician. [To learn more about Jose P. Rizal in Dapitan click here]
Today,
Rizal Park and Shrine (also known as
Rizal Memorial Protected Landscape) is a favorite destination for students, friends and families, who would love to learn more and experience the life of Rizal for a day. If you are not familiar with the history of the Philippines and life of Jose P. Rizal, there are licensed tour-guides available on site that would be willing to tour you around and tell you the story of Jose P. Rizal. I believe there is a minimal fee for the service.
[To learn more about the Rizal Memorial Protected Landscape, check history here]
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You can also check the map to guide you where the houses and spots located. |
The Rizal Museum
The Rizal Museum houses the original pieces of items and clothes owned by the late Philippines National Hero; Jose P. Rizal. During this visit the museum was closed for renovation. We will make sure to visit this again next time.
Rizal Park and shrine houses the 5 reconstructed bamboo houses of Rizal. The houses built are the exact replica of what Rizal used to have.
The Houses at Rizal Shrine
Casa Residencia
The main house and also the biggest. It served as Rizal’s residence where his mother and sisters also stayed during their visit. It has one bedroom and a surrounding veranda with views of the Dapitan Bay.
The Round House. An octagonal stilt house that served as the quarters of Rizal’s students and a clinic.
Casa Cuadrada
The Square House. Located at the base of a hill, it served as a workshop and secondary dormitory for Rizal’s students.
Casitas de Salud
The Health Houses. Two small huts perched atop a low hill, one for males and the other for females, which provided lodgings for Rizal’s out-of-town patients.
Other structures found in the park
Rizal’s Kitchen {Kusina ni Rizal}
Dam Constructed by Rizal {Patubig sa Talisay}
There are other structures like, a mini-ampitheater built by Rizal, aqueduct, water reservoir and more found in the area. During this trip, we were not able to check that out because an old tree fell because of the strong winds days before we arrived. So we don’t have pictures of those.
During your stay don’t forget to show respect to the national hero by kissing the hand of Rizal (magmano po) ahahahaha just kidding.
“He who knows the surface of the earth and the topography of a country only through the examination of maps..is like a man who learns the opera of Meyerbeer or Rossini by reading only reviews in the newspapers. The brush of landscape artists Lorrain, Ruysdael, or Calame can reproduce on canvas the sun’s ray, the coolness of the heavens, the green of the fields, the majesty of the mountains…but what can never be stolen from Nature is that vivid impression that she alone can and knows how to impart–the music of the birds, the movement of the trees, the aroma peculiar to the place–the inexplicable something the traveller feels that cannot be defined and which seems to awaken in him distant memories of happy days, sorrows and joys gone by, never to return.” – JOSE P. RIZAL, “LOS VIAJES”(Translated from the Spanish by Nick Joaquin)