Jose Rizal Landmarks: Before and After

UST Rizal time.

It was founded on April 28, 1611 by the third Archbishop of Manila, Msgr. Miguel de Benavides, O.P., together with Frs. Domingo de Nieva and Bernardo de Santa Catalina.

Through the centuries, the University was given the following titles: Royal, Pontifical, and Catholic University of the Philippines. In 1785, for the loyalty shown by the administration and students who volunteered to defend Manila against the British invasion, King Charles III of Spain granted it the title of “Royal University”. Pope Leo XIII made the University of Santo Tomas a “Pontifical University” on 1902 and in 1947, Pope Pius XIIbestowed upon it the title of “The Catholic University of the Philippines”. Thus its complete name is The Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines (Spanish: A La Real y Pontificia Universidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino Universidad Catolica de Filipinas)

In 1927, with the continuing increase in enrollment, the University moved from Intramuros to its present site which covers an area of 21.5 hectares in the district of Sampaloc, Manila. Since its foundation, the University’s academic life has been interrupted only twice: 1898 to 1899, during the Philippine revolution against Spain; and 1942 to 1945, during the Japanese occupation of Manila, when the University of Santo Tomas was transformed by the Japanese military into an internment camp

Inside the UST Museum there are indigenous Filipino animals that the friars collected for their students to see

Fort Santiago
The location of Fort Santiago was once the site of the palace and kingdom of Rajah Sulaiman, a Muslim chieftain of pre-Hispanic Manila. It was destroyed by the conquistadors (Martin de Goiti) when, upon arriving in 1570, they fought several battles with the Islamic natives. The Spaniards destroyed the native settlements and erected the Fuerza de Santiago in 1571.

The fort is shielded by 22 feet (6.7 m)-high walls, with a thickness of 8 feet (2.4 m) and an entrance measuring 40 feet (12 m) high. It is located at the mouth of the Pasig River and it once served as the premier defense fortress of the Spanish Government in the Philippines. During World War II it was captured by the Japanese, and sustained heavy damage from American and Filipino mortar shells during the Battle of Manila in February 1945. It was later restored by the Intramuros Administration during the 1980s. Today the fort serves as a museum which houses well-preserved legacies of the Spanish government, José Rizal (which is called the Plaza de Armas), Rizal Shrine, and the prison dungeons for criminals used by the Spanish officials.

San Agustin Church
Groundbreaking: 1586
Completed: 1607
Made of bamboo and nipa, it was completed in 1571, but destroyed by fire in December, 1574 during the attempted invasion of Manila by the forces of Limahong.

June 3, 1863, the strongest earthquake at that time, hit Manila leaving widespread destruction to the city with San Agustin Church, the only public building left undamaged in the city. A series of strong earthquakes struck Manila again in 1880 – from the 18th of July to the 20th. This time, the tremors left a huge crack on the left bell tower of the church the crack was eventually repaired but the left tower was permanently removed as it appears today. The church withstood the other major earthquakes that struck Manila before in 1645, 1699, 1754, 1796, 1825 and 1852.
During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II, San Agustin Church was turned into a concentration camp for prisoners. In the final days of the Battle of Manila, hundreds of Intramuros residents and clergy were held hostage in the church by Japanese soldiers; many of the hostages would be killed during the three-week long battle. The church itself survived the bombardment of Intramuros by American and Filipino forces with only its roof damaged, the only one of the seven churches in the walled city to remain standing. The adjacent monastery however was totally destroyed, and would be rebuilt in the 1970s as a museum