Calamba's Heartthrobs

The city's iconic history at the forefront of their identity

Past behind the thicket of crowds in the town plaza, rests a clay pot large enough to be dubbed and believed as one of the largest in the world. A sight that has been wondered - seen directing traffic and providing shelter with its cave underneath, Calamba City’s symbolic icon houses a reason that’s just as groundbreaking as it looks.

Miss understood

When the Spaniards once stepped foot onto the land that's soon to rise an earthen jar, they saw a young maiden holding two unfamiliar pots in front of their eyes, unaccustomed to the pottery they had just seen, their curiosity was quickly piqued. 

“Kalan-banga,” folds the local tongue of the young maiden in response to the Spaniards asking for their whereabouts in Spanish. Mistaken the question for the names of her potteries, the small conversation brought upon the name of a city; And what followed suit was a landslide of misunderstandings being the root of the city’s history - eventually shaping the name of Calamba, and its centerpiece, the Calambanga.

Jarring details

Sculpted by the hands of Felipe Samaniego in 1937, a graduate of the University of the Philippines and a pupil of Guillermo Tolentino,  the 39.37ft high hopes and dreams of Calamba was constructed in reference to the city’s name of origin. 

Further being decorated with the names of the city’s 54 barangays, the giant clay pot was out of the oven in 1939 - sitting on top of a stone based cave with a fountain inside, ornamented with a view deck spanning the scenery of the city center and its historical-cultural sites.

The clay pot then quickly became an iconic piece and is held high by the Calambeños of the city. It became an icon, a symbol - even included in the city’s official seal. If any city has a mascot, a building, or an iconic landscape to carve its name into the minds of its visitors - Calamba City has a jar of mysteries waiting to be dug out of its deep cultural and historical meaning.

Exquisitely Enshrined

Nested within the sights of the city’s iconic jar is the starting grounds of who made the Philippines into what it is today. As the centerpiece of a reform - both in modern and past times, the house of the national hero of the Philippines, Dr. Jose Rizal, is proudly held high by the city of Calamba.

Open from 9am to 4pm, this house, frozen in time, inhibits many significant artifacts that are kept in condition - prevented to age. 

Past the archway onto the right is a museum, tickets are free and all of what’s left is for the eyes to see. Pieces of cloth, writings, and statues - all imbued and sculpted in the name of Dr. Jose Rizal -  and his many different aliases all recorded and displayed on the wall.

After a quick stroll into preserved history, the former house of the country’s national hero is now equipped with a small park - readily available to those who want to appreciate the captivating view a little longer.

Ornamented in 1997, the small garden adjacent to the house was given a statue of a young Rizal and his dog, Usman. At the center of the field is a tree, near a nipa hut that both gives shade to the attacks of the sun - which never by the way, seemed to penetrate the bahay na bato and hardwood of shrine’s foundations.

Inside the house are all things about Rizal and the family, every step takes you to another personality of the house - formerly used and catered for a member of the family, stored with significant meaning and importance to a symbol of the country’s history.

Sea of foods

After a whole day of walking around a place stuck in time, the eyes can certainly be full but the mouth isn’t. 

Just around the block is a line of vendors, parked with their own stalled motorcycles - parked along the lines of the Calamba’s plaza that stays alive both day and night. Tourists and locals alike flock to these offers of delicacy, on the buildings and houses are eateries and local food shops and on the streets are the traditional Filipino food and the trendy meals and snacks catered for students.

Want something small and savory? Try the renowned “tusok-tusok” such as fishball and kwek-kwek

How about fried and tasty? There's the isaw and calamari on a stick

Thirsty after all the indulgence in food? A platoon of milk tea and cafe shops has got you covered.

Foods are pricked and sticks are dipped into the sauce and historical culture of Calamba - an all in all package complete with a scenic view and the lively atmosphere of the locals.

Finishing Touches

Storing more than a century’s worth of progress and change, Calamba’s jars and houses have been with the city through hot and cold. From a stand alone pot to an old church pristine in nature, and now a house turned mini park that’s part of a tourist attraction and a destination for educational field trips, what once was a symbol for the city’s origins, is now making a name for itself.

Paving the way for an onlook of development, Calamba’s historical district recently went under improvements and upgrades in the current times.

Under the program of the city’s current mayor, Ross Rizal, the city center was refurbished - complete with a new set of pillars for enclosures, fragrant sets of plants, and luminous Intramuros-like street lamps lining around the city’s new historical district.

A sea of crowds forms around the city’s heartthrob equipped with a fresh new look - ready to be called the city’s symbol for the next upcoming years. A symbolic piece of culture that can stand through the flow of time, Calamba’s structural identities are here to stay in place and cement its place into history books.