The house of the Rizal family, where the hero was born, was one of the distinguished stone houses in Calamba during Spanish times. It was a two-storey building, rectangular in shape, built of adobe stones and hard-woods, and roofed with red tiles. It is described by Dr. Rafael Palma, one of Rizal’s prestigious biographers, as follows:
The house was high and even sumptuous, a solid and massive earthquake-proof structure with sliding shell windows. Thick walls of lime and stone bounded the first floor; the second floor was made entirely of wood except for the roof, which was of red tile, in the style of the buildings in Manila at the time … At the back there was an azotea and a wide, deep cistern to hold rain water for home use.
Behind the house were the poultry yard full of turkeys and chickens and a big garden of tropical fruit trees – atis, balimbing, chico, macopa, papaya, santol, tampoy, etc.
It was happy home where parental affection and children’s laughter reigned. By day, it hummed with the noises of children at play and the songs of the birds in the garden. By night, it echoed with the dulcet notes of family prayers.
Such a wholesome home, naturally, bred a wholesome family. And such family was the Rizal family.
|
