A month before Earth Day on April 22, the Philippines' first "Earth Chapel" was opened at the Greenheart Hermitage inside the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos campus in Bacolod City.



Greenheart Hermitage gathered three Negrense artists to build a chapel. Marisol Alquizar, Brother Tagoy Jakosalem and Nunelucio Alvarado built the "Earth Chapel," a collaborative work anchored on their common advocacy of protecting the environment.



The chapel is made of indigenous and recycled materials. The structure is made of mud, bamboo, cogon grass, rice straw, rice stalk, wine bottles, discarded tiles, discarded wood slabs and more.



The three artists offered their work, time and talent pro bono. Their individual contributions were:



Marisol Alquizar, designed the chapel. She is a visual-artist who dedicates her time building mud houses in the island of Negros.



"The bayanihan spirit is an essential output and process in creating the mud chapel... students and staff building a community as they build the mud house," pointed out Alquizar.



Brother Tagoy Jakosalem, a Rekoleto friar and an official presenter of The Climate Reality Project, did the interior and conceptualize the incorporation of renewable energy into the structure - making the chapel true to form and function in its liturgical scheme.



"We build the mud chapel from the income of our recycling facility, out of the sales of the plastic bottles that we recycle..." Brother Jakosalem said.



The Climate Reality Project in the Philippines promotes climate change adaptation and mitigation through observance of 8-Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, refuse, rethink, rainforest and reconnect.



Nunelucio Alvarado, a leading social-realist artist in the country, designed the crucifix for the chapel, from his pen and ink version of "Kristo ni Alvarado" transformed into a colorful mosaic as the centerpiece of the chapel - Christ as a suffering sacada, offering his suffering for the sake of all.



"The Christ that I made is a sugar worker, he is like a sacada who is nailed by oppression and abuse... in the same way, the Christ that we nailed on the cross because of our sinfulness," explained Alvarado.




The chapel is the first solar-powered religious edifice in the country. It is envisioned both to have a sound spiritual and environmental atmosphere, LED lights are used to illumine the interior. Wine bottles are incorporated in the structure, natural lighting effects emanating from the green-colored wine bottles, serving as recyclable stained-glass windows.



The chapel started its skeleton from the hands of volunteer students, who are all active members of the Tsinelas of Hope, offering their time to give life to the chapel.



The chapel is envisioned to be the center of our ecological reflection, owing to the spiritual inspiration of our Creator; hoping to be transformed to be men and women of faith committed to protect and preserve the earth.



The chapel is a model of how a place of worship can maximize the use of renewable energy and using indigenous materials as its structure.




How to Get There



The chapel is located within the area of the Greenheart Hermitage at the campus grounds of the University of Negros Occidental - Recoletos in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.



From Manila, you can fly to Bacolod (Php2500++, round trip, 45 minutes). From Bacolod-Silay Airport, you can take a shuttle (Php75-100 per head) going to the city proper. You can also take a cab from the airport but this is a bit expensive (Php400++).



 



 




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photos/source/reference: Greenheart Hermitage | The Climate Reality Project