Dr. José Rizal Park

 

7/2/21 Downtown Seattle from Jose Rizal Park

Dr. José P. Rizal, a Filipino patriot who led political reform for the colony under Spain, was executed by the Spanish colonial government at the age of 35. Honored by the Filipino community as a national hero, he is the namesake for a small park on Beacon Hill. Other than his name, I didn’t know anything about Dr. Rizal, but visiting the park with USk Seattle gave me an opportunity to learn a bit about him.

Bust of Dr. Rizal

The park has a sweeping view of the southern end of downtown, which I tried to capture under a thickly overcast sky. It was a bit chilly on that morning, but after our recent “heat dome,” no one dared complain! It was a perfectly fine temperature to be sketching!

The centerpiece of the park is a bronze bust of Dr. Rizal, sculpted by Anastacio Caedo, that was presented to the city by the Filipino-American community in 1989. As I sketched, I thought it was unusual that the bust had been made when Dr. Rizal was a young man; most monuments depict much older people. Then I saw from the dates on the placard (1861 – 1896) that he was very young when he died a “martyr,” which made me want to learn more about his life. I always learn something from urban sketching.