Lumina Pandit Photo Essay

For our HARTDS2 class, we were required to visit the Lumina Pandit exhibit in the University of Santo Tomas. To be honest, I had no idea what this exhibit was all about. From the title, I had automatically assumed it had something to do with old relics. Nevertheless, my two friends and I hopped on a jeep and went on our way to UST.

I was semi-surprised to find that the exhibit was actually of historical treasures, which was displayed in celebration of the university’s 400^th year. We paid our entrance fees and headed into the first section of the exhibit.

The first section of the exhibit was mostly books of Miguel de Benavides. A painting by Carlos Botong Francisco was displayed, wherein he used cheerful colors to depict the Philippines accepting their Evangelization. There was also a portrait of the founder of UST. Further along, I also saw religious artifacts such as rosaries and sculptures of saints. I noticed that one of the great things about this exhibit is that it interacts with its viewers through the use of computers that showed the routes of the Dominicans; however one of the more amusing things about this section is that there were random stuffed birds displayed with the exhibit.

Beautiful rosaries on display.

Carlos "Botong" Francisco's "Evangelization of the Philippines".

That's just me, messing around with the computer. Haha!

The second section was entitled “Realm of Print”. Naturally, here we found some of the first few books to be published in the Philippines. Aside from that, there also seemed to be loose papers of alibata, our earliest system of writing, and what looked like Chinese prints. I suppose these documents had something to do with early trade relations with China. In this section, there were even more religious artifacts, like sculptures, paintings, crucifixes and even candle holders and chalices used for masses. I didn’t exactly understand what these items had to do with printing, but I had assumed that the school found it important to display.

Sacred items used in mass.

Incomprihensible chinese writing.

Doctrina Cristiana, the first book published in the country.

The third section, called “Spheres of Change”, was filled with what appeared to be astrology, cosmology and other studies of the universe. There were various old books of maps. I think at this point, people started to have a fascination with the universe and a higher being. Apart from that, I was very interested in the story of Noche Triste. Apparently, students had to study and practically know everything about this one book by Aristotle and are faced in front of a panel of judges. From what I understood, the student had two or three questions to answer; voting dice were used to determine their grade. On a lighter note, we found more amusing stuffed animals in this section, such as a tiger and a monkey, which I truly think had nothing to do with anything.

Voting dice-- dun dun DUN!

A book that looks like it's about the universe... or something.

The fourth section is known as “Routes of Globalization”. Here, we saw maps and a lot of old stamps and seals. From the title, my immediate thought was that it had something to do with trade. Strangely enough, this was also where the activity area was. People could participate in a printing workshop, to experience how printing worked back in the day. I had my hand at it; I was quite tedious to make one page. I can’t imagine having to make a hundred or a thousand. The outcome, however, was wonderful. In my opinion, it looked positively medieval.

Trying out the printing press workshop. Fun!

Some stamps and seals. Interesing designs on such small things.

A map. Duh.

The fifth section, branded “Nascent Nation”, seemed to have a lot to do with our country’s fight for independence. There were several books that were published during the Spanish Rebellion, such as Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo and Katipunan. Another notable thing that we saw here is Jose Rizal’s academic records. I was surprised and slightly amused that he actually got average grades with the exception of one subject, which he excelled in. Aside from that, there were also more religious images and paintings, as well as an area with headphones. I had no idea what the connection was, because when I listened to it, it was all sounds of nature— like crashing waves or animals in the jungle.

Rizal's report card! Surprisingly unimpressive...

An old copy of El Filibusterismo.

Listening to sounds completely unrelated to the exhibit. Hahaha!

I would have to say that the last section of the exhibit was the one I found most interesting. Entitled “Curve of Nationalism”, it displayed various sketches of Carlos Botong Francisco, which I found impressive, yet rather redundant in style. He also had costume studies, which were equally as impressive. In this section, they also showed old newspapers that have been well-preserved by binding them together to make a large book. Who knew that old broadsheets were so impressively large? Not to mention the printing style. Another notable item in this exhibit was the papier-mâché figures within the glass, which showed different scenes throughout history such as revolts, daily life and even a volcanic eruption. This was the only section that seemed to include the American and Japanese occupation.

Little papier-mâché people going their merry way.

A large book binding together issues of the newspaper, Kalayaan.

Carlos "Botong" Francisco's hard-to-understand sketch.

I have to say that the whole exhibit was a bit overwhelming. More than half the time, I honestly didn’t know what I was looking at; I basically had to assume for myself. The little labels didn’t do much help and the long texts looked discouraging to read; if I read them all, I would have been there until the next day. Despite this, the exhibit was, without a doubt, impressive in size and in substance.