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The Oblation sculpture at the entrance of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus must be the most famous sculpture in the Philippines, next to the Rizal statue in Luneta. Everytime UP is featured in any medium (TV, movies, print, etc.) you can bet that an image of the Oblation is included. If you’re from out of town, and would like to visit the beautiful and spacious campus of UP Diliman, don’t forget to stop by the administration building and have a picture snapped with this icon. Do you, however, know the origins of and the symbolisms in this sculpture? Here are some:

• Commissioned in 1935 by then UP President Rafael Palma, based on the second stanza of Jose Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Adios.”
• Sculpted by National Artist Guillermo Tolentino.
• Total cost is 2,000 pesos, raised within two months from contributions of students and staff at the university.
• Height of 3.5 meters, or 350 cm., to represent 350 years of Spanish rule.

More pictures and information on The Oblation in my article here, “Tribute to the U.P. Oblation.” Thanks to Michael L. Tan for the informative article.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Metro Manila. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.