Author: National Museum of the Philippines

Establishment of permanent communities has been the legacy of Spanish colonization in the country. To connect these towns, roads and bridges were constructed. Currently, there are several stone bridges that still exist and for our #BuiltTraditionThursday of the #MuseumFromHome series, we feature the existing Spanish-Era Colonial Bridges of Tayabas City in the Province of Quezon.

The City of Tayabas has several Spanish-era colonial bridges including the well-preserved Puente de Malagonlong. But Malagonlong Bridge isn’t the only surviving Spanish old infrastructure in the province, there are ten other which were collectively declared as National Cultural Treasure (NCT) by the National Museum of the Philippines in 2011. These are Puente de Lakawan, Puente de Mate, Puente de Don Francisco de Asis, Puente de Gibanga, Puente de la Ese, Puente de la Princesa, Puente de Alitao, Puente de Isabel II, Puente de las Despedidas, and Puente de Tumuloy o Bai. The bridges were built adopting the arched construction with materials such as adobe stone, limestone, and molasses. Arch bridges are among the oldest types of bridges dating back to ancient Rome. The simplest shape of an arch bridge is a semicircular design with abutments on each end distributing the load from the deck to the sides. This kind of bridges do not need additional supports of reinforced steel and considered among the strongest in the world. Evidently seen on the bridges of Tayabas which have the same design and structure.

The Tayabas bridges span the rivers, streams, and creeks connecting the former town to the neighboring municipalities of Pagbilao, Sariaya, and Lucban as well as to the community within. The infrastructures are locally called puente and puentecito. The puentes usually stands above one-storey high with some having more than one arch. An example of this is Puente de Alitao, which was originally constructed in 1823 with four arches. Only two arches still exist today together with the parapet, spandrel, pier, and abutments. The bridge was built over Alitao River connecting the old town to the población and is still passable to vehicles. Another bridge with more than one arch is Puente de Isabel II in Barangay Baguio. Built with two arches along Tayabas-Sariaya road over Iyam River. The bridge was finished in 1853 and named after Queen Isabel II of Spain. The bridge is still intact and passable but restricted to light weight vehicles. Only one arch can be accessed by the public since the other arch is inside a private resort.

Other bridges such as Puente de Bai and Puente de las Despedidas have only one arch. Puente de Bai, also known as Puente de Tumuloy in Barangay Dapdap was part of an old road going to Palola, Lucban. The one arch stone bridge crosses the Bai Creek and served as the boundary of Tayabas and Lucban. It stands 7-meters high and 7-meters wide. Concrete road was built along the carriageway and is still passable to pedestrians and light weight vehicles. The lands on the vicinity of the bridge are privately owned. Puente de las Despedidas known as the “Farewell Bridge”, was the end road of Tayabas and the old route going to Manila or Laguna. It was built with one arch over Bigger Ibia River in Barangay Lalo. Only the spandrel wall, arch barrel, and abutments still exist. Concrete bridge was later constructed above the spandrel and is passable to all type of vehicles. Both sides of the vicinity of the bridge are maintained as open spaces and can be accessed by the public. Another one arch bridge is Puente de la Princesa, named after the Princess of Asturias of Northern Spain. Unfortunately, the bridge was bombed during World War II and only the stone abutments remains. A deck made of reinforced concrete was built over the ruins.

These arch bridges are easy to be missed. Concrete roads were built over the pavements covering the old carriageway while some have been widened with reinforced concrete constructions as part of a new parallel bridge structure. Most of the bridges have retained their width as defined by the existing stone masonry parapets and can be viewed from the riverbanks. The deterioration of these heritage properties is mainly caused by negligence, lack of awareness, and undesirable man-made interventions. It’s a good thing that the Local Government Unit of Tayabas City is actively preserving their Spanish-Era Colonial Bridges with the annual removal and treatment of vegetation as well as the masonry cleaning of these bridges.

The initiative of the LGU and the community of Tayabas to familiarize themselves and protect these heritage properties is very commendable and should be an inspiration for the public. These bridges are evidences of the ingenious engineering and construction styles that was used by our ancestors. Preserving them is keeping our rich history, culture, and identity. Tayabas isn’t the only place with existing Spanish-Era Colonial bridges on our country, if you visit an old town, you might see some. If you do, share it with us!

Text by Ar. K. Sepidoza Daysa

Illustrations and Photos by NMP Architectural Arts and Built Heritage Division

The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the 100^th birth anniversary of Filipina painter-sculptor Virginia Ty-Navarro born #OnThisDay in 1922, by featuring her oil painting entitled “The Fishermen.”

This artwork, on display at the National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA), along the GSIS Northwest Hallway Gallery of The Senate Floor (Third Floor) was completed in 1983 and became part of the National Fine Arts Collection the following year.  

Virginia Ty-Navarro was born in Manila on July 5, 1922. Showing interest in art, her father provided her with private lessons under a Chinese artist. This was further honed under the supervision of a German nun while studying at St. Scholastica College in Vito Cruz. In 1949, she graduated with high honors from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) with a degree in fine arts. She served as part of the faculty of the fine arts department of UST right after her graduation until 1960 and from 1964-1969, as faculty of the College of the Holy Spirit.

She pioneered “incision painting,” which according to Leonidas V. Benesa, is “a combination of carving, painting, and sculpture.” She produced several paintings but also experimented with sculptures. Her husband, painter, sculptor, printmaker, and 1999 National Artist for Visual Arts, Jeremias Elizalde-Navarro, may be one of the influences on why she pursued and experimented with sculpture, having shared a studio with him.

In 1960, despite the demands of family life, she was able to launch her first solo exhibition featuring her paintings and sculptures at the Philippine Art Gallery. In 1966, she represented the country at the international art congress in Tokyo, Japan. She joined group shows organized by the Art Association of the Philippines and Society of Philippine Sculptors where she also sat as one of the board members. 

Her best-known work is the statue of Our Lady, Queen of Peace at the EDSA Shrine. This monumental sculpture, in size and significance, was sculpted in bronze and can be found at the intersection of EDSA and Ortigas in Mandaluyong City. The artist passed away in Manila on January 28, 1996. 

The National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA) is reopening after a month-long temporary closure. You may view two other works of Virginia Ty-Navarro from the National Fine Arts Collection, namely: Taurus (1975, bronze and brass, Gallery XXIX) and Abstraction (Undated, oil on canvas, 3F South Hallway Gallery). 

#VirginiaTyNavarro

The #NationalMuseumPH brings you another colorful celebration in the country—the Pintados Festival celebrated in the Visayas. In the City of Passi in Iloilo, Pintados Festival is held every 3^rd week of March but for todays’ #MuseumFromHome series, we focus on the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival in Leyte celebrated every 29th of June, also the Feast Day of Señor Santo Niño de Leyte.

Historical records suggest that the first image of the Child Jesus was brought by Spanish missionaries to the island of Leyte in 1888. The Pintados Festival can be traced back to the formation of Pintados Foundation, Inc. in 1986 by the people of Tacloban, who began organizing religious cultural activities in honor of the Señor Santo Niño. A year later, the first Pintados Festival was held on June 29 and was later merged with the Kasadyaan Festival. As the term kasadya-an in the Visayan language means merriment or happiness, the festival portrays the unique and colorful historical background of Leyte. 

More than just celebrating the feast of the Santo Niño, this festival also commemorates the pre-Spanish tradition of tattooing among warriors locally known as pintados. Spanish Friar, Fr. Ignacio Francisco Alcina S.J., on the other hand, mentioned in “Historia de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas 1668” that almost all Visayans had tattoos except the children and the asug (homosexuals), suggesting that the tradition is not only limited to warriors. 

There are multiple events throughout the celebration of Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival – the Festival of festivals of Leyte, the Ritual Dance Presentation of Pintados and the Pagrayhay (or pagrayhak meaning to celebrate) for the Grand Parade. Various municipalities of the province participate and gather in Tacloban City to join the celebration. For this reason, the festival is said to promote a sense of pride and solidarity as every municipality presents their own local folklore and legends. 

The folk dances presented during the festival depict the pre-Spanish practices of our ancestors, which include worship of idols, and performance of indigenous music and epics. Dancers fill the streets of the city wearing colorful garbs along with intricate body paintings consisting of different shapes, figures and colors, as if one is wearing an armor. The festival concludes with a merry-making or a traditional Filipino fiesta. 

To know more about the tradition of tattooing in the Visayas, check out the featured articles of the National Museum Western Visayas on #Pintados in #KwentongKultura here: https://bit.ly/NMWesternVisayas-Pintados. 

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division

Photo courtesy of Mr. Ricky D. Alejo

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

The Philippines has several forest types and one of them is the tropical lowland evergreen rainforest, also known as the Dipterocarp forest. But sadly they are the most affected by the many anthropogenic factors such as logging, kaingin (slash and burn farm), encroachment of settlers, conversion to palm oil plantations, and many others. Much of our remaining large tracts of Dipterocarp forest are found in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, Samar Island Natural Park, Palawan, and Mindanao.

The tropical lowland evergreen rainforest is so diverse compared to other forest types because of the vertical layering of a habitat called forest stratification. These different layers are emergent, canopy, understory, and the forest floor. Each layer has its own ecological niche that supports unique sets of flora and fauna. 

Emergent layers are large dominant trees sticking out of the canopy layers, usually large dipterocarp species. These trees are the most preferred nesting sites of the Philippine Eagle which provide protection to its young from predators but sadly there is also the large-bole trees preferred by loggers cut.

The canopy layer forms at the mat of the crown of trees around 60-90 feet above the ground which receives 90% of the sunlight. The canopy layer is home to many epiphytes (orchids, ferns, moss, etc.) and arboreal animals (monkeys, tree frogs, flying lizards, etc.). Many species are yet to be discovered in this area especially the invertebrates (insects, arachnids, etc.) that never go down to the ground.

The understory receives only around 2-15% of the sunlight that breaks through the spaces of the canopy layer. This is dominated by some shade-loving trees, palms, and herbs. Some trees develop flowers directly on their trunk which is called cauliflorous which will more accessible to their pollinators. 

While the forest floor is the darkest zone in the tropical lowland evergreen rainforest but nonetheless it is home to so many unique flora and fauna. It is covered with thick layers of forest litter where many detritivores and heterotrophic are found such as arthropods, fungi, and some plants. This is where we can find the giant flowers of many Rafflesia species found nowhere else.

Our remaining tropical lowland evergreen rainforest is still full of mysteries and surprises. We still have time to do more fieldworks and research to uncover new species and new understanding that is useful to us. Let us protect this forest not only for today but for our future generations to come.

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines