THE OTHER day I was able to visit the town of Toledo in Spain.
It was an hour away from the busy capital province of Madrid and it was where you could see the authentic Spanish lifestyle.
One thing that really impressed me was the fact that even though Toledo was quite near the capital and bustling with tourists, it still kept its antiquity. The brick buildings had the same form and structure as they did during the medieval times.
They preserved their towering castles and bridges. Even branded clothes shops were placed in rooms of century-old buildings.
One store I went to even had a Baroque-era cave preserved underneath that patrons could visit for free!
I really liked how they incorporated the past and the present in Toledo. When you’re walking along the cobblestoned streets you could imagine the villagers going about their daily business during the olden times; kids playing on the streets, neighbors chatting and playing board games in the sun. It had a very melancholic feel to it.
They also did not sacrifice the natural structure of a place for convenience. It was very hilly there and walking around could be quite tiring, but it just added beauty to the place especially from afar.
There are only a few places in the Philippines that practice the combination of modernity and antiquity. Vigan, Iloilo, Intramuros, and Silay in Negros are a few, but even in these places not all the old structures are saved.
How many times have I seen an ancestral house be torn down to make room for a restaurant or shop?
Imagine if our top cities preserve the architecture of our past. Our streets would be full of buildings that have a melancholic feel to them, too. Wouldn’t that be pretty?
It is important to remember our past because it is the foundation of our future and it forms our identity. Even a simple thing like the structure of a building or a town says a lot about how we view ourselves.
Respecting our past helps us move forward. (angelica.panaynews@gmail.com/PN)
