Landmarks

Below are some of the major landmarks/tourist spots in Bacolod City and nearbly places

The San Sebastian Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Bacolod City, is a late 19th-century church. The church was constructed by Fr. Julian Gonzaga from Barcelona, Spain, the parish priest from `1818-1836. Construction of the church in its present form began on 27 April 1876 under the leadership of Fr. Mauricio Ferrero, OAR, using prison labor provided by the politico-military governor, Roman Pastor. Primary materials used for its construction were coral stones from the island of Guimaras, now a separate province. The San Sebastian Cathedral is named after Saint Sebastian, an early Christian saint and martyr more commonly known in the Philippines as San Sebastian. The place where it stand was known as the village of Magsungay, the precursor of the modern city of Bacolod.

The provincial Capitol, the seat of provincial government of Negros Occidental, is a Romanesque neoclassical structure built from 1924 to 1935 with a large lagoon in front of it. It is onne of the most splended capitol buildings across the Philippine archepelago. The famous architect, Leandro Locsin, call it the most beautiful capitol in the country for its symmetry and layout. Accentuated by the cool waters of a lagoon in front of the building, the capitol complex is stunning during sunset when the sun strikes its golden rays to the water and reflects an orange glow on the building. The capitol was planned by Daniel Burnham and designed by Juan Arellano. The entire building took a decade to build

before the Second World War reached the Philippine shores.

The neoclassical architecture was favored by the American colonial masters. The four statues above the Corinthian columns were sculpted by the Italian artist Francesco Monti, who also did the two concrete carabao sculptures on the northern and southern ends of the lagoon. The main capitol building stands on Gatuslao Street.

This sculpture of a carabao being pulled by a man is one of the main features at the Capitol Park and Lagoon in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province. The carabao is often referred to by foreigners as water buffalo, because the word carabao is not part of the English language. There are two carabao sculptures mounted on the two opposite sides across the lagoon. These sculptures are located at the northern and southern ends of the lagoon. The other sculpture depicts a woman standring besides the animal. These figures were done by Italian sculpture Francesco Riccardo Monti, who also did the sculptures of the Metropolitan Manila Theater in Manila and the University of the Philippines-Visayas campus in Iloilo City, the capital of neighboring Iloilo province. Guillermo Tolentino is a contributing sculpture of the figures.

The Ruins, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Negros Occidental, is located in Talisay City, which is part of Metropolitan Bacolod, in the early 20th century by sugar baron Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson in memory of his Portuguese wife, Maria Braga, who had died during the pregnancy of his 11th child. A 10-bedroom mansion, it was the largest residential structure ever built at that time. In World War II Filipino guerrillas intentionally set the building on fire in order to prevent invading Japanese forces from being able to use the building as a headquarters. It took three days of inferno to bring down the roof and the thick wooden floors of the mansion. Despite burning for days, the walls and foundation remained sound. The grand mansion, of Italianate architecture with neo-Romanesque twin columns, was built in the middle of a sugarcane field. The two-story structure had a floor area of 903 square meters with a belvedere where the family gathered to watch the sunset. But Lacson remarried, this time to Concepcion Diaz from Talisay. Lacson’s sugar plantation of 440 hectares was divided among the 10 children by his first wife after drawing lots. The mansion went to Mercedes Lacson who married Manuel Javellana from Jaro District in Iloilo. After it was burned by the Filipino guerrillas, the mansion was never rebuilt.

The Bacolod Public Plaza is one of the notable landmarks of Bacolod City. It is located in the downtown area, near the city hall and across the San Sebastian Cathedral. The plaza is a trapezoidal park with a belt of trees around the periphery and a gazebo at the center. Scattered within the trees are four circular fountains. The plaza was constructed in 1927 as a place for recreation, political, spiritual and cultural activities. Open debate on religion in group clusters is common at the place, which is also quite a popular site for outdoor picnics and concerts. The gazebo is often used to house a bandstand and inscribed along the sides of the roof are the names of Western classical music composers Beethoven, Wagner, Haydh and Mozart. The plaza is the heart of the MassKara Festival celebration, a week-long activities of cultural street dancing competition held every third weekend of October nearest October 19, the city's Charter Anniversary. The public plaza is the final destination of the MassKara.[

Lakawon is a 13-hectare, banana-shaped island off the coast of Cadiz City in the northern part of Negros Occidental. A white sand beach and a family-run business, it is a popular destination for tourists. The term Lakawon came from a Cebuano word lakaw, meaning "to walk". The island may have gotten its name because one can literally walk or wade a long distance to the island from the main island during low tide. Lakawon is 48 kilometers north of Bacolod City, the provincial capital. The island is accessible from the coast of Barangay Cadiz Viejo via a 20-minute boat ride. Lakawon's white sand beach is claimed to rival that of Boracay, a popular island resort off the coast of Aklan in Panay. In stark contrast to its more famous counterpart, however, Lakawon has a smaller influx of tourists, and the island is not commercially developed. The island is more akin to a sandbar. Please read "Away from the madding crowd", my blog on this, on the Articles page.

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