We love taking photos. This spot in Baler has to be a must in the itinerary. Have your picture taken beside it, on top of it, solo, and with a group.
Along Quezon Street, across Quezon Park, and near the town hall, you’ll see this — five big red letters spelling out BALER.
Baler Municipal Hall, then and now. The old 1939 photo’s courtesy of Baler Tourism.
When my friends and I saw this, we knew what had to happen. We climbed it and had a group photo.
It didn’t end there. We had solo shots on each letter taken separately, and then merged to produce a cloning effect.
But you know what? I’m glad we had our photos taken there because that made me curious about the monument behind us. At first I thought it was just part of the town hall’s design. When I looked closer, the structure actually has a name – Baler 400 Years.
Based on Baler’s government website, the Baler 400 Years Monument has four pillars representing the town’s 400 years of history. The 40-foot monument has 100 stainless steel bars interconnecting the pillars.
Luis Yee, Jr., also known as Junyee, created the monument. In a GMA News Online article entitled “Junyee, the revolutionary artist“, more background information about Junyee is available. It mentioned his winning sculpture “Open Doors”, built to honor Baler-born Pres. Manuel Quezon and the Filipinos for the “open-door policy” to Jews in 1939 that saved 1,200 lives. This seven-meter high sculpture was built in Holocaust Memorial Park in Rishon LeZion, Israel.
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Sources:
– “Junyee, the revolutionary artist” http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/211035/lifestyle/peopleandevents/junyee-the-revolutionary-artist
– “Baler 400 Years Monument” http://baler.gov.ph/services/for-visitors/tourist-attractions/