Chapter 9: Rizal Grand Tour of Europe with Viola

1. CHAPTER 9
Rizal’s Grand Tour of
Europe with Viola (1887)

2. Dr. Maximo Viola
 Rizal’s travelling
companion in Europe

3. Potsdam, a city
near Berlin
 Frederick the
great made
famous

4. [The Tour Begins]
May 11,1887- at dawn, they left Berlin by train
 it was an ideal season for travel:
-Spring; flowers blooming; meadows turning green;
village humming with activity
[Dresden]
Rizal and Viola tarried for some time
Their visit coincide with the floral exposition
•Rizal studied the “numerous plant varieties of
extraordinary beauty and size”

5. They visited Dr. Adolph B. Meyer
• Director of the Anthropological and Ethnological
Museum

6. Museum of Art
- Rizal was impressed a painting of “Prometheus Bound”
(same idea in an art gallery in Paris)
They met Dr. Jagor while strolling at the scene of the Floral
Exposition
• (Celebrated German scientist-traveler and author of
Travels in the Philippines)
- Heard their plan to visit Leitmeritz (now Litomerice,
Czechoslovakia)
- Advised to wire Blumentritt (was in nervous
desposition)

7. Prometheus Bound
 Dr. Feodor Jagor

8. Teschen-(now Decin, Czechoslovakia)-
next stopover after Dresden
[First Meeting with Blumentritt]
1:30p.m., May 13, 1887- the train they
boarded arrived at the railroad
station of Leitmeritz,
Bohemia

9. Ferdinand

10.  Professor Blumentritt was at the station carrying a
pencil sketch of Rizal.
 They greeted each other in fluent German.
 Blumentritt, the genial host, helped Rizal and Viola
get a room at Hotel Krebs.
- brought them to his house and introduced to his
family
May 13 to May 16, 1887- stayed in Leitmeritz

11. [Beautiful Memories of Leiteritz]-Rizal’s visit
 enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Blumentritt family.
 The professor’s wife Rosa, prepared special Austrian
dishes
Blumentritt and Rosa’sChildren:
- Dolores(called Dora/Dorita by Rizal)
- Condrad
- Fritz

12.  Blumentritt proved to be a great tourist guide as well as a
hospitable host.
 scenic and historical spots
 one afternoon, invite Rizal and Viola to a beer garden
(best beer of Bohemia is served)
Burgomaster (town mayor)-Blumentritt knew; approached and
introduced his two Filipino friends
- he and his friendsamazed at Rizal’s
fluency in talking German
-lauded Rizal’s “privileged talent”
Tourists’ Club of Leitmeritz- Blumentritt was the secretary
-Rizal and Viola was invited to a meeting
-Rizal spoke in fluent German:
- praising Austria’s idyllic scenes and
its hospitable, nature-loving, and noble
people.

13.  To commemorate Rizal’s happy hours, he painted a portrait of the
kind professor and gave it to him.
Dr. Carlos Czepelak- renowned scientist of Europe
-Rizal et during visit in Leitmeritz
- Blumentritt brought Rizal Czepelak’s house.
Professor Robert Klutschak- eminent naturalist.
 Last night in Leitmetritz:
-Rizal and Viola tendered a banquet(farewell dinner) at their
hotel to reciprocate Blumentritt’s hospitality.
May 16, 9:45 A.M.- Rizal and Viola left Leitmeritz by train
- Blumentritt’s family were at the railroad station to
see them off.
May 24, 1887- letter written in Vienna, concern for the illness of Dora

14. Ferdinand Blumentritt and his family. Drawn by Rizal
while in Dapitan. From the book “Jose Rizal – Filipino
Doctor and Patriot

15. [Prague]

16.  They carried letters of recommendation from Blumentritt to
Dr. Willkomm.
- professor of natural history in the University of Prague
- his wife and daughters welcomed Rizal and Viola and
showed the city’s
historic spots:
tomb of Copernicus
 museum of natural history
 bacteriological laboratories
 famous cave where San Jose Nepomuceno, the
Catholic saint, was imprisoned
 bridge from which S.J.N was hurled into the river

18. Brunn- nothing of importance happened in the city.
[Vienna]
May 20- Rizal and Viola arrived in the beautiful city
of
Vienna
- capital city of Austria-Hungary
- ”Queen of Danube”
 beautiful buildings
Religious images
 haunting waltzes
Majestic charm

19. Norfenfals- one of the greatest novelists in Europe at that time.
- Austrian novelist
- “whose genius he so much admired”
Diamond stickpin- received in Vienna
- found by a maid in Hotel
KrebsBlumentrittRizal
Rizal and Viola stayed at Hotel Metropole. They visited the city’s
interesting places. They met two good friends of
Blumentritt―Masner and Nordmann, Austrian scholars.

20. [Danubian Voyage to Lintz]
May 24- left Vienna by a river boat to see the beautiful sights of
Danube River.
 barges loaded with products
flowers and plants
 boats with families living on them
 quaint villages
The passengers were using paper napkins instead
of cloth

21. [From Lintz to Rheinfall]
 The river voyage ended in Litz
 Traveled overland to Salzburg, then to
Munich
-savored the famous Munich beer. The
best in Germany
Nuremberg- one of the oldest cities of Germany
sights: horrible torture machines used by the
Inquisition
-they also visited the manufacture of
dolls
Ulm- its cathedral was “the largest and tallest in
all Germany”
-climbed by Rizal and Viola

22. Ulm Münster
768 steps

23. Ulm Stuttgart, Baden Rheinfall (Cascade of the
Rhine)
“ The most beautiful waterfall in Europe”

24. [Crossing the Frontier to Switzerland]
Rheinfall Schaffhausen, Switzerland
(June 2 – 3, 1887
Continued: Basel (Bale) , Bern, and
Lausanne.
[Geneva]
after sightseeing in Lausanne, Rizal and
Viola left on a little boat, crossing the
foggy Leman Lake to Geneva.

25. Geneva- one of the most beautiful cities in
Europe
-visited by world tourists every year
-people were linguists: French,
German, Italian
-Rizal and Viola went boating on the
lake
June 19,1887- Rizal treated Viola a blow-
out
- 26th birthday of Rizal
-sumptuous meal
Rizal and Viola spent 15 delightful days in
Geneva

27. June 23- Rizal and Viola parted
 Viola – Barcelona
Rizal – continued the tour to italy
[Rizal Resents Exhibition of Igorots in 1887 Madrid
Exposition]
Geneva,June 6, 1887-Letter to Blumentritt
“My poor compatriots (Igorots-Z) who are now being
exhibited in Madrid are mocked by Spanish newspapers,
except El Liberal which says that it is not consistent with
human dignity to be exhibited side by side with animals
and plants. I have done everything possible to prevent the
display of this degradation of men of my race, but I have
not succeeded. Now, one woman died of pneumonia. The
Igorots were housed in a barraca (rustic house made of
bamboo, grass, and tree branches-Z). And El Resumen
still makes mean jokes about it!”

28. Geneva, June 19, 1887
Rizal said he is in favor of holding and
exposition, “but not at exhibition of odd
individuals, showing our countrymen as a
curiosity to entertain the idle inhabitants of
madrid”. He emphatically reiterated “We want an
industrial exposition, but not an exhibition of
human beings who are compelled to live almost
outdoors and die of nostalgia and pneumonia or
typhus!”

29. [Rizal in Italy]
Visited:
 Turin
Milan
Venice
Florence
June 27, 1887- Rizal reached Rome, the “Eternal City” and
also called the “City of the Caesars”
-describing to Blumentritt, the “grandeur that
was Rome”, he wrote on June 27,1887
“ I am in Rome! Everything I step on is the dust of
heroes. Here I breathe the same air which the Roman
heroes have breathed. I salute every statue with
reverence, and to me, a humble native of a small island, it
seems that I am in a sanctuary. I have already seen the
Capitolium, the Tarpeian Rock, the Palatinum, the Forum
Romanum, the Amphitheatre, etc.

30. Everything here is glorious except the
cafes and the café singers. I do not
enter these (cafes) because I loath to
hear their French songs or see modern
industries. My favorite places are the
Amphitheatre and the Roman Forum;
there I remain seated for hours,
contemplating everything and restoring
life to the ruins …I have also visited
some churches and museums, like the
Capitoline Museum and the Church of
Santa Maria Maggiore, which is also
grandiose.

31. June 29th –
◦ the feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul
◦ Rizal visited for the first time the Vatican,
the “City of the Popes” and the capital of
Christendom.
After a week of wonderful sojourn in Rome,
he prepared to return to the Philippines. He
had already written to his father that he was
coming home.