Last steps of Jose Rizal, Fort Santiago, Manila (Photo by Luigi Lagdameo)
Located right beside Baluarte de Santa Barbara, the Rizal Shrine will give you a further taste of the injustices of colonial rule. Dr. Jose Rizal was held captive in the building by the Spanish authorities prior to his execution on the morning of 30 December 1896. Here the great hero wrote his immortal Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell). Rizal’s deeply moving paean to his beloved country is engraved on a bronze plaque on a wall by the shrines entrance.
Photo via flickr by Savigar
The museum has some of his clothes and personal items, first copies of his famous books and one of his vertebrae. Jose Rizal was a doctor who left the Philippines and performed medicine in Hong Kong, United States and Europe. He was falsely accused of starting a revolution, where he was more concerned about education. In the main courtyard of Fort Santiago, you will see gold footprints, which retrace his final steps from his prison to where he was executed.
Address: Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila
Directions: Free, but donation requested at the end of visit 8am to 4pm daily
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