Paco Park Cemetery

A circular colonial cemetery where José Rizal was buried in an unmarked grave, now a quiet public park

Paco Park is a small circular cemetery built in 1820 by the Spanish around an older church, designed to contain the burial niches of wealthy Filipino and Spanish families in a series of concentric rings. After cholera epidemics in the nineteenth century it served as a public cemetery. Today it is a quiet public garden, one of the more peaceful spots in a very loud city.

The round garden with its stone walls and embedded burial niches has been photographed frequently for its unusual geometry. On Friday evenings the park hosts classical music concerts in the garden. The cemetery's connection to Rizal — briefly buried here after his 1896 execution — is commemorated with a marker. The surrounding Paco neighbourhood has some good local restaurants and is less visited than Intramuros or Rizal Park.

things to do sight history
A story
José Rizal, the Philippines' national hero, was executed by the Spanish on December 30, 1896. The colonial authorities, nervous about his grave becoming a pilgrimage site, buried him secretly in the Paco Cemetery under the name "Rph" and inverted the position of his body. His sister Narcisa memorised the location. After American forces took Manila in 1898, Rizal was exhumed and reinterred at Rizal Park with full honours — but the original burial site in Paco is marked.