Rizal Park

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  • Address
    bordered by Burgos St, Taft Av, TM Kalaw St & Quirino St, Rizal Park

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Lonely Planet review

Still widely known as 'Luneta' (its name until it was officially changed in the 1950s), Rizal Park is spread out over some 60 hectares of open lawns, ornamental gardens, paved walks and wooded areas, dotted with monuments to almost every Filipino hero you care to mention. It's a pretty area but also shabby in parts, dangerously so near the closed National Museum on P Burgos St.

Every day hundreds of Filipinos come here to stroll, jog, picnic, sing and play music, or just relax away from the swarming traffic. At dawn, various groups gather to practise t'ai chi or the local martial art of arnis, or arnis de mano, a pre-Hispanic style of stick-fighting. There are formalised displays of martial arts on Sunday afternoon. The long-running Concert at the Park also takes place at the Open Air Auditorium; it starts at around on Sundays.

The park is dedicated to the Philippine national hero, Dr José Rizal, who was executed here by the Spanish colonial authorities on 30 December 1896 for inciting revolution. The Rizal Monument, guarded by sentries in full regalia, contains the hero's mortal remains and stands as a symbol of Filipino nationhood (visiting heads of state customarily lay a wreath here).

To one side of the monument you will find the Site of Rizal's Execution; at the entrance is a black granite wall inscribed with Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell). Eight tableaux of life-size bronze statues recreate the dramatic last moments of the hero's life; at night these statues become part of a light-and-sound presentation entitled The Martyrdom of Dr José Rizal.

At the western end of the park stands the Quirino Grandstand, where Philippine presidents take their oath of office and deliver their first address to the nation. At the opposite end you will find the Relief Map of the Philippines, which shows the entire Philippine archipelago in miniature (it's best appreciated from the elevated LRT1 line). The centre is dominated by the Central Lagoon and Fountains.

Along one side are three ornamental gardens - the whimsical Chinese Garden, the austere Japanese Garden and the tropical Manila Orchidarium. There's also the Chess Plaza, a shady spot where regulars test each other and look for new blood with shouts to visitors of 'Hey Joe, do you play chess?'

In the northwest of the park is the Planetarium. Across Roxas Blvd, directly in front of the Rizal Monument, is the 0km Post, the spot from where distances in the Philippines are measured.