Plaza Miranda | |
|---|---|
| Public square | |
.jpg) Considered the center ofQuiapo, Plaza Miranda is surrounded by several shopping buildings and its most famous landmark, theQuiapo Church. | |
| Dedicated to | José Sandino y Miranda |
| Owner | City of Manila |
| Location | Quezon Boulevard andHidalgo Street,Quiapo Manila,Philippines |
 Interactive map of Plaza Miranda | |
| Coordinates:14°35′53″N120°59′01″E / 14.59806°N 120.98361°E /14.59806; 120.98361 | |
Plaza Miranda is apublic square bounded byQuezon Boulevard,Hidalgo Street and Evangelista Street inQuiapo,Manila. It is the plaza which fronts theMinor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno (Quiapo Church), one of the main churches of the City of Manila and is considered the center of Quiapo as a whole. Inaugurated in its current form by MayorArsenio Lacson in 1961,[1] it is named after José Sandino y Miranda,[2] who served as the Philippines' Secretary of the Treasury between 1833 and 1854.
Regarded as the center of Philippine political discourse before theimposition of martial law in 1972, the plaza was the site of the 1971Plaza Miranda bombing, where two grenades were launched at a political rally of theLiberal Party, killing nine people. It later became the venue of theMovement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL) rally led bySen. Jose W. Diokno on September 21, 1972, where 50,000 people gathered together to protest the impending martial law declaration of theMarcos dictatorship.Martial law was quickly made official hours after the event. It underwent a₱49 million renovation in 2000 after decades of neglect as a result of Manila'surban decay in the 1970s and 1980s, giving it a more modern design despite protests from various historical groups and cultural experts,[1] with a monument erected to commemorate bombing victims and additional architectural elements installed. Currently, Plaza Miranda serves as afreedom park, where assemblies and protests may be held without needing a permit from local authorities, and with thousands of people crossing through it every day, it is considered Manila's version ofTimes Square.[1]
Despite fronting the Quiapo Church, Plaza Miranda and the streets surrounding it is known as a center forfortune-telling and the sale of lucky charms and amulets.[3] Most fortune tellers who practice around Plaza Miranda claim that they can draw their ability to tell fortunes from their devotion to theBlack Nazarene (the patron of the Quiapo Church) despiteCatholic Church doctrine deploring the practice.[4]
Plaza Miranda has an area of 5,358 square meters (57,670 ft2),[5] bounded by the Quiapo Church to the north,Quezon Boulevard to the east,Hidalgo Street to the south and Evangelista Street to the west. The plaza proper, which has a design capacity of 16,074 persons,[5] is paved withgranite tiles and is surrounded byNeo-Gothic architectural details which are inspired by the Quiapo Church's architecture,[1] particularly on the western side, which contains two grand entrance arches bearing the coat of arms of Manila. The two grand arches are separated by several smaller arches, which form a coveredcolonnade, incorporating into their design the sea lion found in the coat of arms. A larger, more elaborate grand arch was also constructed on the plaza's south side, at the intersection of R. Hidalgo and Villalobos Streets.
Two of the plaza's four corners contain historical markers. A plaque commemorating thePlaza Miranda bombing in 1971 is installed at the southwest corner, unveiled by PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo on August 21, 2002, while the southeast corner, fronting Quezon Boulevard, has a 35-foot (11 m) high marbleobelisk topped by a statue of a woman whose outstretched arms bear a torch, representing freedom. The obelisk is flanked by two columns on each side, topped with urns made from an alloy ofcast iron andbronze, which also serve as gas-fired cauldrons which may be lit for special occasions.[1] The Manila city government declared this particular corner the "Plaridel Corner" after thenom-de-plume ofMarcelo H. del Pilar, editor and co-publisher ofLa Solidaridad, on August 30, 2005, the centenary of del Pilar's death, and the historical plaque, written inFilipino, bears a quotation attributed to the French writer and philosopherVoltaire.
Tutol ako sa sinabi mo, ngunit ipagtatanggol ko hanggang kamatayan ang karapatan mong sabihin iyon.
(I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.)
The plaza is lit at night by severalfloodlights installed at strategic points throughout the area, both on the ground and on top of the colonnade. This and a sound system are controlled electronically from a control room located within theLacson Underpass[1] to the southeast.
Aside from the Quiapo Church, several other notable buildings surround Plaza Miranda. The most prominent buildings within the plaza's vicinity are the F&C Tower (formerly the Picache Building), which formerly housed the headquarters of thePhilippine Savings Bank, and theTimes Theater, one of Manila's oldest cinemas. Before the 1970s, a building which stood opposite the present-day Plaridel Corner featured an electronicnews ticker operated byThe Manila Times;[1] the building has since been demolished, and in its place was built the Plaza Miranda branch ofMercury Drug, whose façade features a largeLED display.[6] In 2015, the two displays were replaced with a single large LED display — said to be the largest in Asia — measuring 11.5 meters (38 ft) by 24.8 meters (81 ft).[7]
The area around R. Hidalgo Street is also known as the "photographers' haven" owing to the presence of several buildings that house shops offering photography-related services, some of which have been in operation for decades.[8]
Three of the seven entrances to the Lacson Underpass are located within the vicinity of Plaza Miranda: the Carriedo entrance at the plaza's northwest corner, the Villalobos entrance across from the Plaridel Corner in front of the Mercury Drug Plaza Miranda, and the Paterno entrance at the northeast corner beside the Quiapo Church.
