Paco Park
Encyclopedia
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
’s municipal cemetery during the Spanish colonial period. It is located along General Luna St. and at the east end of Padre Faura Street in Paco
Paco, Manila
Paco, is a district of Manila, Philippines. It is located south of Pasig River, and San Miguel, west of Santa Ana, southwest of Pandacan, north of Malate, northwest of San Andres, and east of Ermita. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 64,184 people in 13,438 households...
district in the City of Manila, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
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History
Paco Park was originally planned as a municipal cemeteryCemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
for the well-off and established aristocratic Spanish families who resided in the old Manila, or the city within the walls of Intramuros
Intramuros
Intramuros is the oldest district in the present day city of Manila, the capital of the Republic of the Philippines. Nicknamed the "Walled City", Intramuros is the historic fortified city of Manila, the seat ot the government during the Spanish Colonial Period. Its name in Latin, intramuros,...
during the Spanish
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
colonial era. Most of the wealthy families interred the remains of their loved ones inside the municipal cemetery in what was once the district of Dilao (former name for Paco). The cemetery was built in the late 18th century but was completed several decades later and in 1822, the cemetery was used to inter victims of a cholera epidemic that swept across the city.
The cemetery is circular in shape, with an inner circular fort that was the original cemetery and with the niches that were placed or located within the hollow walls. As the population continued to grow, a second outer wall was built with the thick adobe walls were hollowed as niches and the top of the walls were made into pathways for promenades. A Roman Catholic chapel was built inside the walls of the Paco Park and it was dedicated to St. Pancratius.
On December 30, 1898, Philippine national hero Dr. José P. Rizal
José Rizal
José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...
was interred at Paco Park after his execution at Bagumbayan.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and Philippine Commonwealth Army. The park was converted into a national park in 1966 during the term of President Diosdado Macapagal
Diosdado Macapagal
Diosdado Pangan Macapagal was the ninth President of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice President, serving from 1957 to 1961. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970...
. Paco Park’s grandeur was slowly restored after the war and since then has remained as a public park and promenade for many teenage sweethearts who could spend quiet moments along the park’s benches and private alcoves.
Paco Park and its care was placed under the responsibility of the National Park’s Development Committee (NPDC) during the regime of President Ferdinand E. Marcos.During the Marcos period, through the efforts of former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos
Imelda Marcos
Imelda R. Marcos is a Filipino politician and widow of 10th Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Upon the ascension of her husband to political power, she held various positions to the government until 1986...
, culture was given emphasis and priority in the country and Paco Park was one of the few venues chosen to host events related to culture. On February 29, 1980, then Press and Cultural Attache of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in the Philippines, Dr. Christoph Jessen with then NPDC Vice-Chairperson Teodoro Valencia started a classical concert within Paco Park as part of the celebrations for the “Philippine-German Month,” and the program became a tradition, a weekly fare held every Friday afternoons and called the, “Paco Park Presents.”
This event featured and highlighted the exchange of Filipino and German musical artists who performed at Paco Park and it served as a means to strengthen the bond between Germany and the Philippines.In 1998, the celebration of Philippine-German month was moved from February to March, with the concert starting at 7:00 P.M. But Paco Park Presents continues to celebrate its anniversary every February.The park is open Monday to Sunday (except on Wednesday) from 8:00AM to 5:00PM and every Friday by sunset, "Paco Park Presents" feature the finest musical artists and chorales, local and guests performers for an evening of classical and traditional Filipino music. Paco Park has become a very popular venue for weddings and receptions for couples who prefer garden-like settings. The Chapel of St. Pancratius is under the care of the Vincentian fathers who also manage the nearby Adamson University
Adamson University
Adamson University is a private university Catholic university in Manila, Philippines, founded on June 30, 1932 by Greek immigrant George Lucas Adamson as the Adamson School of Industrial Chemistry...
. The event aired on the National Broadcasting Network
National Broadcasting Network
People's Television is the flagship government television network owned by the Philippine Government through People's Television Network, Inc. . Its head office, studios and transmitter are located at Broadcast Complex, Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City .-History:The country's government...
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See also
- Demographic history of the Philippines
- Timeline of Philippine historyTimeline of Philippine historyThis is a timeline of Philippine history. To know more about the background of these events, re-read the history of the Philippines article. For the country, see Philippines.-Pre-historic:* 500,000 BC - The early humans in the Cagayan cave...
- Culture of the PhilippinesCulture of the PhilippinesPhilippine culture is related to Micronesian, Bornean, Mexican and Spanish cultures. The people today are mostly of Malayo-Polynesian origin, although there are people with Spanish, Mexican, Austro-Melanesian and Chinese blood. Geographically, the Philippines is considered part of Southeast Asia...