Leyte’s Santo Nino Shrine and Heritage Centre
Author: Jetsetter
The Santo Nino Shrine and Heritage Centre is located in Tacloban City, the capital of Leyte. Leyte is a province in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines.
The mansion was built for Imelda Marcos, former President Ferdinand Marcos’ wife. It is a house made of elaborate designs, ornate patterns, obviously expensive materials – porcelain, ivory, jade, Persian carpets among other pricey-pieces. The house is lavishly decorated with paintings of Malakas and Maganda, the Holy Child of Fernando Amorsolo and paintings of the 14 Stations of the Cross, a twenty and a thirty-seater dining set, a magnificent furniture collection and antiques from different parts of the world.
The bedrooms downstairs have thematic decors for different regions like Muslim, Ifugao, etc. Each room has an Austrian mirror and a diorama, depicting Imelda’s life story with the use of Russian dolls.
The rooms on the second floor were for the Marcoses. The house has more than 12 bedrooms, none of which were slept in. This paints a clear picture of luxury of the past, the extravagance of the Marcoses and the poverty and confusion of the Filipino people. It is believed to be one of the many proofs of the ill-gotten wealth by the Marcoses.
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