Lines Across Time: An architectural journey
A plan for a house of a government official. Such
houses served as residences and offices.
Architects of the period made sure these structures
were spacious and airy, with large windows and
courtyards that provides breathing space and
adequate ventilation.
The streets of Vigan and Iloilo along with the archaic infrastructures and majestic century-old houses reminds us of the suffering we have endured and the glory we have won under the Spanish regime. The remarkable structures remind us not only of the Spanish colonization but of Malay, Hindus, Chinese and Japanese influences on our architectural patterns.
Lines Across Time, an exhibit of photographs depicting the Filipino lifestyle during the later years of the Spanish colonization, will be at the Museo Iloilo this coming February 12 to March 3 of this year. Heritage genius Toti Villalon has worked together with creative director Teresa Custodio and model artist Ignacio Perez to show how the Philippine life was changed by the transformation brought about by Spanish colonization. The show has three parts -- House, Infrastructure and Everyday Life.
This will be the 9th traveling exhibition of the Fundacion Santiago, a foundation which has been existing since 1903 whose main objective was to attend the needs of the indigent Spanish citizens stranded in the country during the change of regimes. Fundacion Santiago was originally known as Hospital Español de Santiago but the name was changed during the tutelage of its president Pedro Roxas. It was Roxas who reinvented the foundation. He saw the essence of civic work as a way of returning to the Philippines the kindness and the support that the country have given them.
Today, the foundation supports lot of projects ranging from assisting cooperatives to sponsoring workshops. Another interesting program of the foundation is the promotion of the heritage preservation. It was due to the observation made by Chaco Molina, executive director of Fundacion Santiago, that many Filipinos had forgotten their past.
Line Across Time is just one of the many heritage-related project of the foundation. It is an interactive exhibit that narrates how the Filipino culture and lifestyle has been enriched by different cultural influences. The show also provides images and layouts of towns in a grid of straight streets that branches from the centrally-located plaza. This can be considered as one of the major contributions of the Spanish colonization to the Filipino way of living. In fact, the town layouts were patterned with that of the towns all over the Spanish Empire during the 17th century based on a decree made by King Philip of Spain.
It was also during that time that Philippine houses were transformed from the usual bahay kubo to the more popular bahay na bato. It was when Filipinos learned to make use of bricks and slanted eaves, which was first introduced by the Chinese, and kapis window slid that signifies the Japanese paper shoji.
Also included in the exhibit are photos that vividly describes the development of dusty city streets to the roads paved in piedra china and later railroads and shipping lanes.
Likewise, images of Chinese shop houses, where the upper floor serves as a residence while the lower portion was utilized for business purposes, will be featured. More importantly, the exhibit will illustrate the Spanish colonial planning and the type of architecture that was born during the era which played a very crucial role in nation-building.
Lines Across Time will highlight the relevance of old Filipino lifestyle to the modern way of living as well as the different ways that we can do to preserve these historical treasures.