Pope John Paul II Monument in Bacolod City
Posted by on February 18, 2010
Today, the Pope John Paull II Memorial Monument will be officially unveiled and blessed by His Grace Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines. He will be assisted by the Bishop of the Diocese of Bacolod, his Excellency, Msgr. Vicente Navarra.
The monument is located at the reclamation area, just a few walks away from the SM Bacolod shopping mall.
February 20, 1981, on that same spot, His Holiness Pope John Paul II officiated a Papal Mass attended by a crowd close to one million. during that time, the area was just a barren land. reclaimed for future plans. hen His Holiness wen to Bacolod, there were no shopping mall at that time, and only a few buildings in the city.
Behind the monument is an eight-storey tower where a memorabilia museum can be found. Yesterday, the tower is already open to the public but no materials related to the Pope can be found yet. We took an elevator ride up to the seventh floor then climbed the stairs leading to the eighth.
The view on top of the tower is really breathtaking. It gives you a 360-degree perspective of the downtown Bacolod and the whole reclamation area.
One can see the crazy the traffic is along the Rizal-Gatuslao street, near the Bacolod Cathedral. On the other side, you can view the large cargo ships and the smaller fast crafts bound for Iloilo docked at the BREDCO port. And the view of Mount Kanlaon on the eastern side is perfect.
I hope that, when I get back to Bacolod City Philippines, the memorabilia will already be on display.
very nice.
the top of the tower is open to the public? hope so.
yup its open to the public