Travel Notes: The Ruins
Love is beautiful in serenity, devastation or ruin.
Our fascination with love and all that we connect to it is boundless. We go to great lengths and make ourselves feel things that are both painful and happy for the sake of love. Perhaps it is what makes us human after all - bounded by love entirely.
The story goes, Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson while on a trip to Hong Kong chanced upon Maria Braga, a Portuguese daughter of a ship captain in Macau. It was inevitable that they will eventually fall in love and Mariano offered her marriage. They moved to Talisay in Negros Occidental where they raised 10 children.
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| Letter M initials marking every pillar of the house. |
To cope with the sadness, he erected an undying monument for his wife. Dedicated to his great love to Maria, he built a mansion that would remind him throughout his lifetime.
He had their initials "M[ariano] and M[aria]" marked on every post of the mansion as a symbol of their undying love.
He took charge of building the mansion. Making sure it will last "forever' like his love for Maria.
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| Roof view of the mansion |
As World War II came, American forces fearing that the house will be used by the occupying Japanese as a headquarters, burned the building to the ground.
But even in spirit, the house stood firm and it took 3 days of inferno with only the roof and a few inches of the floor damaged.
The house was deserted for a few decades until it was restored with its peculiar beauty in ruins.
I realized a lot after getting to know The Ruins. It not only reminds us of Mariano's love to his wife Maria but the story of the building itself - from the reason behind its construction to its destruction and rebirth can be a source of inspiration.
The Ruins represented how relentless love can be. How it pushes us to do things beyond the norm and ultimately how it transforms us for better or for worse.
Love can create beauty and it can also destroy. But all things borne out of love carry a certain beauty - both in happiness and tragedy.
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