Celebrate the 111th death anniversary of the Philippines' national hero, Dr. José P. Rizal this coming December 30, 2007.

Did you know that this monument of our national hero and that of legendary 14th century Swiss hero William Tell were both sculpted by the same Swiss artist Dr. Richard Kissling? Between 1905 – 1907 an international art competition search for the best monument design was held - but his “Motto Stella” (Guiding Star) entry in actual fact only placed second to first prize winner Professor Carlos Nicoli of Carrara, Italy! Although Nicoli's scaled plaster model titled “Al Martir de Bagumbayan” (To the Martyr of Bagumbayan) bested 40 other accepted entries, alleged technical violations at that time forced authorities to prevent him from constructing the monument (or did Kissling's work offer a cheaper alternative?). ;-)

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I highly recommend that you view the award-winning "José Rizal" movie (in Tagalog, with English subtitles) as directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rizal_(film) to learn more about the man behind the face. Back in the 1970's, there was a big buzz about plans to make a hollywood movie for international release on the life and times of Rizal starring Andy Garcia. I wonder what became of THAT project?