Around UST ...in One Hour or So

During my latest trip to Manila, I had the happy chance to see firsthand the campus of a university that was at least 400 years old... THE University of Santo Tomas.

It was really by a happenstance that when I joked to my friend to "Let me see Uste man bi!", he was very willing to do so. He was the perfect tour guide, for UST has been home to him for years. And so, I was the lucky recipient of some trivia and anecdotes related to this institution and its history.

Started the tour at the Main Building where the Museum was located 

It was past 5PM when we got there, so the Museum of Arts and Sciences was already closed.

No matter how we tried to open the doors, it wouldn't budge.

It didn't matter which angle we looked at it...it was still CLOSED! :P

Disappointed, but not deterred, we went up to the Director's Office...

...and found some artifacts displayed on its walls.

I also discovered this spot,
perfect for staging an ambush on people or classmates going up the stairs, hehehe! :)

the stairs where many leaders, heroes, and presidents of our country have trod

Next on our itinerary was the Faculty of Civil Law, where many prominent national leaders graduated from.

The lobby, filled with inspiring images.

Interesting murals depicted the virtues of Wisdom and Justice, 

both important in governing and in the field of Law.

King Solomon makes his wise judgement to award the baby back to its own mother.

from biblical stories to personalities known for their sense of justice and leadership

Can you find Lady Justice, the banished Adam and Eve, and  the first crime committed here?

We went next to the chapel.

Outside the chapel are the life-size statues
of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and
the Immaculate Heart of Mary (farther down the hall)

Inside the Chapel

Outside the church, Santissimo Rosario, there was a lot of parked cars.

At past five in the afternoon, we were fortunate to still have light even though there was a typhoon signal announced in the country. We took advantage of this and went around the school grounds.

the football field where thousands gathered for the message
of then Pope John Paul II (now Blessed John Paul II)
during the World Youth Day in 1995

The Quadricentennial Square has some holes on its ground,
so I'm guessing I'm standing on a dancing fountain that at the moment was turned off :)

It was said that the faces for these four figures
 (two students, a professor, and a Dominican priest)
were modeled after actors Piolo Pascual, Charlene Gonzales,
the daughter of the sculptor, and ...I guess I forgot the fourth one :) 

The sculpture TetraGlobal created by Ramon Orlina in the Quadricentennial Square

Rested a bit at the Plaza Mayor...my feet were killing me!
While various statues from above looked  upon me :)
My favorites were Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Appreciating the two fountains that flank the Arch of the Centuries:
Fountain of Knowledge, symbolized by the deer (behind me) and
Fountain of Wisdom, characterized by the owls (not shown) 

The veritable Arch of the Centuries
where  freshmen who were initiated enter,
and graduates march and pass through.

400 years of shaping people and futures!

I feel grateful that I had the opportunity to walk through this place, 

for it was a time for me to be amazed at the beauty of education. 

For something of quality that can be preserved as well as developed, 

this is a feat laudable and worthy of my respect. 

Thanks to my tour guide,

I will always have this hour (or so) to last me a lifetime...

or 400 years :) 

Visit this institution at your leisure, too. 

It is only a click away. :)