This article was recovered from an article posted on 2013-06-20 03:48:33
[ Photo: crcarch201306200348]
The current state of the San Cristobal mural. Photo by Dr. Veronica Ramirez[/caption]
A recent piece by Philippine Star columnist Carmen Pedrosa about her Holy Week pilgrimage to Paete, Laguna made mention of a book being produced in UA&P with Center for Research and Communication Associate Director Dr. Veronica Ramirez calling for efforts to save the badly damaged mural in the San Cristobal church. In a correspondence with Pedrosa, Dr. Ramirez wrote: “We are currently working on the final stages of our Paete coffee table book, The Carving Life of Paete, which we started in 2011 with co-author Prof. Brenda Fajardo, to be published by the University of Asia and the Pacific. “We have hundreds of photographs of the church taken from 2011 but I thought I’d take some more. After taking some shots of the architecture, I recently went inside to shoot the interior. Everything looked the same inside the church, except for one thing that stirred my emotions…I had seen paintings and murals, much older than the San Cristobal mural, also in wood, but have never seen one in such dismal and pathetic state. “I hope that the cultural and historical experts, the National Historical Commission, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, aside from the Laguna provincial Heritage preservation and cultural affairs offices come together to protect and save our national treasure, the San Cristobal mural.” Continue reading at the PhilStar website »
