For all those who are curious, here's a picture of Rizal's house painted green. Sorry for the poor image photo, it was just taken from a camera phone and enlarged:
And just in case you're wondering how Rizal's house looked like before, here's the original color of the house. This photo is taken with a DSLR, thus the great image:
According to the Cultural Center of the Philippines, where the order to paint Rizal's house green came from:
"The reason for painting Rizal’s house green highlights and informs visitors of the meaning of his surname. Following the 1849 Claveria decree giving surnames to Filipinos for tax and census purposes, the Rizals who were also known by their other surname Mercado (market) chose 'Risal' from the 'Catalogo alfabetico de apellidos.'
The word comes from the Spanish 'ricial' which describes a green field ready for harvest. It was hoped that after asking, 'Why is Rizal’s house green?' the visitor will get a relevant answer: the green hues are meant to honor the memory of the Rizal family and their way of life."
What's your opinion on this issue? Is it okay or not? What color should Rizal's house be?
It should have been painted whatever the original colors were. That's what restoration is about.
ReplyDeleteI like the color and the reason behind it. It's so reasonable.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, they can't paint it using the original colors. Juan Nakpil reconstructed it in 1950s based on a faded photograph. That's why the color isn't really clear.
im really disappointed and there is a part of me that wants to shout for anger!! i cant imagine what is going on with their minds when they decided to paint it green!!
ReplyDeletecomplete stupidity!! excuse me for my words.. just cant help it!!
Ambeth Ocampo's schlimbesserungen
ReplyDeleteThis is a case of a solution--painting the Rizal home neon green (see http://www.tdoffgolf.com/images/Neon_Green.gif)--to a perceived problem, ignorance of the Spanish provenance of the Rizal name which is “racial”, which makes conditions worse.�
The Chair of the National Historical Institute of the Philippines, Dr. Ambeth Ocampo, gave a precise definition of his “ricial”. In his column (click http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20090603-208524/Why-Rizals-house-turned-green), Ocampo states, “The word comes from the Spanish ‘ricial’ which describes a green field ready for harvest.”
Dr. Ocampo further defines his “racial” to more precisely fit what “green”� he had in mind as “the color of palay or ripe rice stalk.”�
“Ripe rice”�ready for harvest is “golden yellow”� (click http://www.juergen-zink.de/Nepal/pic133.jpg showing rice that’s ripe for harvest).
Ocampo notion of the color of “ripe rice stalk’ conflicts with reality. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know this. In fact even an illiterate rice farmer knows this basic fact.
So, even the basic assumption of Ocampo that underpins his solution is a “historian’s logical fallacy.”�
His solution to a self-inflicted problem consists of several fallacies:
1. Painting Rizal’s home with an “offensive green”� (Ocampo’s own term) is an aesthetic solution to a lexical problem or more to the point an information problem. He can very well make use of a limitless array of lexical armamentarium open to Ocampo: radio, TV, newspapers, DVDs, movies, magazines, books, brochures, listservs, Facebook, Flickr, Multiply, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, advertising in all forms of media, etc. Imagination is the only limit;
2. Any solution applied to an architectural object that speaks to a people’s sense of their past should be in harmony with good taste (aesthetics), good history, and good public relations, i.e., it should be respectful of the feelings of people who have to live with the object. Ocampo and it seems the entire Board of NHI do not reside in Calamba and do not have to suffer the pain of this aesthetic monstrosity;
3. It’s clear Ocampo is in error in many respects, lexically, aesthetically, architectuarally, strategically, tactically, etc. Now it seems he’s determined to get even more wrong (wronger or wrongest). Ocampo has triumphantly announced Boysen has offered to repaint Rizal’s home at no cost to taxpayers (that’s you and me). So what does Ocampo decide? He will paint Rizal’s home another shade of green this time “dark green.” Which is to redefine his “racial” as the color of palay when it is most unsuitable for harvest.
There is apt expression for this, “Jumping from the frying fan to the fire.” The Germans, who are better at this game, have a term for this, schlimmbesserungen, which denotes making something worse through an attempt to make things better.
History is replete with examples of schlimbesserungen: the eighteenth-century correction of asparagus to sparrow-grass. An extreme example was the notion seriously thought of by John von Neuman (father of the electronic computer) and Edward Teller (father of the hydrogen bomb) who both enthusiastically proposed using nuclear explosions to deflect hurricanes.
Ocampo’s green solution may not be so devastating for the world but it may well be disastrous to Calamba’s people or the Nation.
Dr. Ocampo has to have enough humility, grace, and sense to accept the fact he’s wrong in painting the Rizal home green.
If he cannot find it in himself to admit being in error publicly and to apologize to the people for a grave dis-ease he has caused, he can very well finis the affair by just announcing the NHI now wants to consult the people of Calamba for them to decide what is the best solution the people can live with, maybe even be proud of.
VICENTE CALIBO DE JESUS
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