Description of the attraction
The Quezon Memorial is a national park and mausoleum located in Quezon City, the former capital of the Philippines. The park is oval shaped and bounded by the Oval Road. The main attraction of the park is the mausoleum, which houses the remains of the second president of the country, Manuel Quezon and his wife Aurora Quezon.
Actually, this place was reserved for the construction of the national capitol, which was supposed to meet the Congress of the Philippines. In November 1940, even the laying of the first stone took place, but the construction was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War. After the war, President Sergio Osmena issued a decree to start raising funds for the construction of a memorial to his predecessor, Manuel Quezon. Then a competition was held for the best design of the memorial, which was won by the Filipino architect Federico Ilustre. In addition to the monument itself, it was also planned to build a complex of three buildings - a library, a museum and a theater.
According to the project, the monument was supposed to consist of three vertical pylons, symbolizing the largest geographic regions of the country - Luzon, Mindanao and Visayas, and surrounded by sad angels holding an Asian jasmine (national flower) in their hands. The height of each pylon is 66 meters (the age at which Manuel Quezon died). Inside the pylons, it was supposed to place a two-story building - a gallery, from which visitors could see Quezon's hearse, modeled after Napoleon Bonaparte's hearse.
Construction of the memorial began in 1952, but has progressed very slowly, partly due to the cost of imported Carrara marble, which was brought in in blocks and cut on site. There were also problems with the management of funds collected for construction, as well as with the theft of marble. Only in 1978 was the monument completed - to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Manuel Quezon. His remains were moved here in 1979. And in 2005, the remains of his wife Aurora Quezon were placed here.
Unfortunately, the planned buildings of the library, museum and theater were never built. True, two small museums were created on the territory of the memorial - one contains the personal belongings of Manuel Quezon, and the second is dedicated to the history of the city of Quezon City.
