Quezon City or QC is popularly known as the city of stars but there is so much more to this city than just glitz and glamour. A quick tour of the city can show you facets of arts, history, business, education, and urban lifestyle that makes it an ideal place to live in. With practically everything within your reach, one can say that QC is a lifestyle city.
Commercial and residential units blend together to meet individual and family lifestyle needs. It is also the home of prestigious educational institutions like the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus, Ateneo de Manila University, and Miriam College. Those who choose to settle in the city as well as residents of nearby towns can also find a lot of business and employment opportunities in QC. Its vast land area offers a lot of potential for growth and development for both local and foreign investors.
Quezon City has certainly gone a long way from its humble beginnings. As they celebrate their 75th Diamond Jubilee, we took a tour around UP Diliman and made a lot of interesting discoveries. Our starting point is at the Quezon City Hall where we met up with members of the tour group. Lunch was first on the agenda so we all trooped to Wingman at the UP Town Center and fuelled our tummies before proceeding with the tour.
First stop is the Vargas Museum where we got to see the collection of art, stamps and coins, library, personal papers and memorabilia of Jorge B. Vargas, and we also got a a glimpse of paintings by Juan Luna and Fernando Amorsolo which were part of his collection.
The Vargas Museum also features changing exhibits every now and then. Luckily we were able to catch the last of day of “Breeding Ground” and Bembol Dela Cruz’s “Handmade Violence”.
Breeding Ground focuses on the contested nature of land and how it is represented and appropriated. It presents the works of Fernando Amorsolo, Adjani Arumpac, Dominic Mangila and Jorge Vargas.
The exhibition revolves around five articulations of image and image making: two paintings, a film, a sculpture, and an essay. These moments of form and formativity render the properties of land, the material that is made dense through pigment, narrative, earth, word, light, shadow, stroke, turn of phrase. Land is object at the same time that it is staked out as earth by people who claim it, fight and die for it, live off it, become wretched and lords-in-dominion because of it. It is, therefore, ultimately subject because it is potential, a medium through which life is possessed.
While the Hand Made Violence is Bembol Dela Cruz’s one-person exhibition that presents his confrontation with guns in two forms: first, in metal sheet with inscriptions in Braille, and second, in painting. By asking users of unlicensed guns to describe their guns, Dela Cruz develops a “cartographic sketch” that makes the gun acquire a criminal face.
We then proceeded to the Church of the Risen Lord. This protestant church was considered as an engineering masterpiece when it was built.
Nearby is another architectural landmark, the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice which is known for its architectural design.
The church is recognized as a National Historical Landmark and a Cultural Treasure by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, formerly the National Historical Institute, and the National Museum of the Philippines respectively.
The Carillion Bell Tower is a permanent landmark in the University and arguably as iconic as the other popular spots in the campus. Its long history with the University has secured its place in the identity of the university.
The more popular Oblation Statue is often used as the landmark of the University and can be seen in school related logos, publications, or emblems.`
Last stop is the PAGASA Astronomical Observatory where one can engage in stargazing activities. But since the sun is still up, we just looked around the facility. On our way back to city hall we passed by the UP TechnoHub, a booming commercial and business area for BPO and tech companies.
A whole day of tour in UP doesn’t seem enough to explore and enjoy its sights. Considering that this is just one small area to explore in QC, what more if I give you 75 ways to enjoy the city.
