Did you know that the park in front of the Urdaneta City Hall in Barangay Tulong in Urdaneta City may be the only park in Pangasinan that was built by four National Artists?
Read this story published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on April 27, 2009.
Monument, park honoring Spanish navigator opened
URDANETA CITY – The monument and park built to commemorate the 500th birth anniversary of Spanish navigator and Augustinian friar Fray Andres de Urdaneta, after whom this city was named, was finally inaugurated on Saturday after almost 10 years of construction.
The ceremony was attended by Mayor Jose Miguel Santamaria of Ordizia, Spain, Urdaneta’s birth place, National Artist for Architecture Ildefonso Santos and officials of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and local government.
“I feel very small standing before the spectacular monument that we are unveiling today. But I also feel grateful and satisfied,” Santamaria said.
“It was a brilliant dream [because] it took us across the world in our quest to celebrate the achievements of Andres de Urdaneta,” he said.
The monument, which depicts Fray Urdaneta holding a cross in a ship’s bow, was a collaboration of four national artists.
Prof. Napoleon Abueva (visual arts, sculpture) created Fray Urdaneta’s actual bronze monument; Abdulmari Asia Imao (visual arts, sculpture) worked on the wooden boat replicating Urdaneta's original ship and on a mural depicting the life and times of the friar; Santos designed and landscaped the park; and Alejandro Roces (literature) wrote “An Ode to Andres de Urdaneta” which was translated in Filipino, Ilocano, Pangasinan and Basque and inscribed in giant granite panels at the monument’s side.
Only Santos was able to make it to the inauguration. Imao was represented by his wife Grace.
Fray Urdaneta, who was born in Ordizia, Spain, in 1508, was a navigator and soldier before he became a priest. He became a celebrity when he discovered the Manila-Acapulco (Mexico) route, which was used in the galleon trade that brought Asian culture to Europe through Mexico.
Cecille Guidote-Alvarez said the monument was a “creative school” with four national artists collaborating for the first time to buid it.
She said that Santamaria had told her that it was the “best ever” monument of Urdaneta around the world.
"We will have a global attention with it. It will be magnet for tourism, especially among Hispanic-heritage countries," Alvarez said.
Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr. thanked Santamaria “for coming all the way from Spain” just to attend the inauguration. He said the people of Urdaneta felt proud for having the monument built in his city.
Urdaneta forged a sisterhood relations with Ordizia during Perez’s visit to Spain in December 2007.
President Macapagal-Arroyo had issued Proclamation No. 1423 declaring 2009 the “Year of Urdaneta,” in recognition of the friar’s achievements and “his contributions to Philippine culture and history.”
The proclamation also created the Urdaneta 500 Commission, which involves members of the private sector and headed by Fr. Pedro Galende. (Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon)
No comments:
Post a Comment