The Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine is a national shrine located in

Kawit Kawit, officially the Municipality of Kawit ( tgl, Bayan ng Kawit), is a first-class municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 107,535. It is one of the notable places that had ...

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southw ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, where the Philippine Declaration of Independence from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

was declared on June 12, 1898. To commemorate the event, now known as ''Araw ng Kalayaan'' or ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

'', a national holiday, the

Philippine flag The national flag of the Philippines ( tgl, Pambansang watawat ng Pilipinas; ilo, Nailian a bandera ti Filipinas; ceb, Nasudnong bandila ng Pilipinas; es, Bandera Nacional de Filipinas) is a horizontal bicolor flag with equal bands of royal ...

is raised here by top government officials on June 12 each year. The house is now a museum.

History

The shrine is the

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

Emilio Aguinaldo Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (: March 22, 1869February 6, 1964) was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who is the youngest president of the Philippines (1899–1901) and is recognized as the first president of the Philippine ...

, officially the first

President of the Philippines The president of the Philippines ( fil, Pangulo ng Pilipinas, sometimes referred to as ''Presidente ng Pilipinas'') is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of ...

, the only president of the

First Philippine Republic The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...

. The house was built in 1845 made from wood and

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

and reconstructed in 1849. Here, Aguinaldo was born on March 22, 1869.

Independence day

On June 12, 1898, the independence from

was proclaimed from the window of the grand hall. The

Declaration of Philippine Independence The Philippine Declaration of Independence ( fil, Pagpapahayag ng Kasarinlan ng Pilipinas; es, Declaración de Independencia de Filipinas); es, Acta de la proclamación de independencia del pueblo Filipino, link=no) was proclaimed by Fili ...

was read by its author,

Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista y Altamira (December 7, 1830 – December 4, 1903), also known as Don Bosyong, was a Filipino lawyer and author of the Declaration of Philippine Independence. A distant relative of the Rizal family, Bautista often gave ...

The Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Malolos Congress on September 21, 1898.Guevarra, Sulpicio (1972)
"The laws of the first Philippine Republic"
p.5. National Historical Commission. President Aguinaldo greatly enlarged his home from 1919 to 1921, transforming it into a monument to flag and country.Quezon III, Manuel L. (April 2, 2002)

. Flags of the World. Retrieved on October 20, 2011. He constructed an elaborate "Independence balcony", which Aguinaldo and top Philippine officials used during independence day celebrations. Many visitors today assume the balcony to be the actual location of the Independence Proclamation. Aguinaldo donated his home to the Philippine government on June 12, 1963, "to perpetuate the spirit of the Philippine Revolution of 1896 that put an end to Spanish colonization of the country".

National flag and anthem

During the independence celebration, the

was formally unfurled from the front window. It was first flown during the Battle of Alapan in

Imus Imus, officially the City of Imus ( fil, Lungsod ng Imus), is a 3rd class component city and ''de jure'' capital of the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 496,794 people. It is the ''de jure ...

two weeks earlier on May 28, 1898 (now celebrated as

Philippine National Flag Day The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

each year). The

Philippine national anthem "" ("Chosen Land"), originally titled in Spanish as "" ("Philippine National March"), and commonly and informally known by its incipit "" ("Beloved Country"), is the national anthem of the Philippines. Its music was composed in 1898 by Julián ...

was also first played on the grounds by the

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, o ...

of San Francisco de Malabon (now General Trias) but as an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

music; the lyrics were not written until 1899 by José Palma.

Declared a National Shrine

Emilio F. Aguinaldo died on February 6, 1964, at the age of 94 at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City. The same year, the government declared the mansion as a National Shrine on June 18 through Republic Act of 4039 signed by President

Diosdado Macapagal Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr. (; September 28, 1910 – April 21, 1997) was a Filipino lawyer, poet and politician who served as the ninth president of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth vice president, serving from 1 ...

."The Aguinaldo Shrine"
Philippine Culture – Filipino.biz. Retrieved on October 16, 2011.Valmero, Anna (April 8, 2011)
"Revisiting the Aguinaldo Shrine"
GoBacoor. Retrieved on October 17, 2011.

Description

Aguinaldo Park

The property which is adjacent to a river, was expanded to include Aguinaldo Park, a park in front of the house created for the Philippine Centennial celebration of 1998. The park with a long

promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cl ...

and two long pools. Previously the house was fronted by a busy street. In the park is a bronze statue of Aguinaldo on horseback.

Main house

Aguinaldo's house is a mansion over in floor area designed by Aguinaldo himself. The house features secret passages and hiding places for documents and weapons and is filled with antique furniture and decorated throughout with motifs of the Philippine flag and other national symbols. The building is divided into three sections: the main house on the west side of the building, the family wing on the east, and the tower located in between."A House of History"
National Historical Institute of the Philippines. Retrieved on October 19, 2011. The middle section is a five-story tower with a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

at the very top. The

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

level on the second floor is sometimes counted as an extra floor. The ground floor of the house was previously unwalled which is typical of the houses during the era. Today, it houses a museum of Aguinaldo's memorabilia and other historical artifacts. A

hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...

depicting Aguinaldo during the eve of June 12, 1898, is one of the exhibits. Located on the second floor is the grand hall, a large meeting room with the historic front window from where the Declaration of Independence was read. The front Independence balcony was added by Aguinaldo during the 1919 renovations.Javellana, Rene and Zialcita, Fernando Nakpil, etc. (1997). "Filipino Style", pg. 66–69. Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd. . The dining room located on the same floor is highlighted by a raised-relief map of the Philippines on its ceiling. Also on this level is the bedroom of Aguinaldo, the kitchen, a conference room, and a partially covered terrace on the western end of the building. On the east wing are three bedrooms for the general's three daughter's. A covered balcony ''(azotea)'' at the end of the wing was christened by Aguinaldo as ''Galeria de los Pecadores'' (Hall of the Sinners) as military plots against the Spanish authorities were planned there.aiebo (December 27, 2007)
"Aguinaldo's House at Kawit Cavite"
. Panoramio.com. Retrieved on October 17, 2011. The next level is a

library which overlooks the grand hall below. A flight of stairs takes the visitor to the Ambassador Room used as a study by the general's son-in-law,

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

Jose Melencio. The next floor is the other bedroom of Aguinaldo which he used during the latter part of his life. A tiled

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

on this level gives a commanding view of the town to as far as

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

. A very narrow ladder takes one to the top of the tower which is allegedly the favorite spot of Aguinaldo.

Garden

The grounds of the house is lush with greenery bordered by a river on the east and backed by a

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical ...

to the south. On display outside the house is Aguinaldo's personal car, a 1924

Packard Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Th ...

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

restored in November 2009.ericaorange (June 13, 2010)
"The House of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo
. Tara Na!. Retrieved on October 17, 2011. In the middle of the garden behind the house is a marble tomb where the first president is interred.

Museum

The Aguinaldo Shrine museum on the ground floor is maintained by the

National Historical Commission of the Philippines The National Historical Commission of the Philippines ( fil, Pambansang Komisyong Pangkasaysayan ng Pilipinas, abbreviated NHCP) is a government agency of the Philippines. Its mission is "the promotion of Philippine history and cultural herit ...

Notes

External links

Blogspot
about the Aguinaldo Shrine.

at AngelCent, includes Interior photos and directions on getting there.
The House of General Aguinaldo
More interesting pictures of Aguinaldo Shrine from Tara Na! {{Calabarzon attractions Kawit, Cavite Houses in the Philippines National Shrines of the Philippines Historic house museums in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Cavite Tourist attractions in Cavite Emilio Aguinaldo