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Replica of the Rizal Monument in Madrid, Spain
Hotel Ingles, where Rizal delivered his famous speech in the banquet held on June 25, 1884, in honor of Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo for winning first and third prizes at the Madrid Exposition in 1884 their murals, “Spolarium” and “Virgenes Christianas.”
What did Rizal do during his time in Madrid?
What did Rizal do during his time in Madrid?
Rizal arrived at Madrid, Spain in September 1882.
On November 3, 1882, Rizal enrolled in the Universidad Central de Madrid (Central University of Madrid) in two courses—Medicine and Philosophy and Letters.
Rizal also enrolled in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando), where he studied painting and sculpture.
According to sources, from 1882 to 1885 and during his second shortest stay in Madrid, in 1890-91, he lived in at least nine boarding houses, hostels or residences. One of the reasons for Rizal’s frequent transfer from one boarding house to another and the search for the best possible rooming house was due to the fact that he wanted to look for a cheaper place in order to save, also the proximity of the place to his school, the tranquility of its neighborhood, for nights of study and writing; the state of the house itself and the composition of its tenants.
Rizal also found it more convenient to stay in the center of Madrid to economize on transportation fares. Rizal during this time continued to be busy with serious pursuits, with literary, artistic and patriotic labors, despite the many attractions, the spunky and joyous sounds of Madrid, because he had a mission to accomplish.
"I had the honor of bidding goodbye to '83 and greeting '84. I didn't toast, but after them, I made a resumé of such brilliant speeches."
Calle de Pizzaro, where Rizal began to write his novel, Noli Me Tángere, a required reading for high school students in the Philippines. La Solidaridad and Rizal’s novels worked hand in hand to further the goals of the Filipino Propaganda Movement. Though dramatic and wider in appeal, Rizal’s novels were written in Spanish.
Calle de Atocha, here lies the former office of the Filipino community’s newspaper, La Solidaridad. Named after the Barcelona- and Madrid-based Filipino organizations that advocated reforms, the paper became a channel by which the community voiced its desire for recognition and autonomy from mother Spain. It ran from 1889 to 1895.
The old Facultad de Medicina de San Carlos, where Rizal studied medicine from 1882 to 1884 prior to specializing in ophthalmology in Paris. Rizal took up medicine in order to heal his mother of her cataracts, but it’s said that his heart really belonged to the arts.
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