The world’s largest monument ever built in honor of a fencer was inaugurated in the Philippines in May 2014. The 7.9 meter bronze statue of Dr. JOSE RIZAL in fencing uniform and carrying a fencing sword was erected in his home province of Laguna (south of Manila) in the Philippines. RIZAL is portrayed as a sportsman, as he was a fencer in his younger days.
Dr. JOSE RIZAL has the status of a national hero in the Philippines. He wrote two novels “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” which inspired the Filipino people’s revolution against the Spanish regime that occupied the Philippines for almost 400 years.
RIZAL was incarcerated and sentenced to death by firing squad. He was executed by the Spanish Army in the public park in Manila on December 30, 1896, the year that the first Modern Olympic Games were held in Athens Greece. However, the revolution did lead to the Independence of the Philippines on June 12, 1898.