Rising from the ‘Koimeterion’: Reading Marie Joy Rosal’s ‘Ig-Ampo Niño Cami’

In 2016, while working on my master’s thesis on the stone churches of Pangasinan at the University of Santo Tomas, my adviser, Regalado Trota Jose, who is now National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) chairperson, recommended a thesis by one of his former students in the University of the Philippines’ Art Studies program. Beyond its discussion of the sources of building stones, he considered it an excellent example of research worthy of publication. It was Marie Joy Rosal’s study of Iloilo’s cemeteries.

The publication of Ig-Ampo Niño Cami: An Art History of Iloilo Colonial Cemeteries carries its own story of dormancy and resurrection. A study devoted to places of repose has itself awakened after a long slumber — a fitting association with koimeterion, the Greek root of “cemetery,” meaning a sleeping place.

Completed in 1995, Rosal’s thesis was a pioneering contribution to the art historical study of Spanish colonial cemeteries in the Philippines. It first saw the light of publication as a short article in Endangered: Fil-Hispanic Architecture, an anthology published by Instituto Cervantes in 2005.

Three decades after completing the thesis, and with encouragement from Jose, the Ilongga scholar agreed to its publication as a book. For researchers of the colonial period, its arrival is especially welcome.

Undeniably reliable

Those who have read or browsed the original manuscript will appreciate its journey from its humble, yet crucial beginnings as a master’s thesis to a full-fledged publication. The book brings years of painstaking research to a wider readership, giving renewed life to a study whose value extends beyond its original academic purpose.

The material Rosal gathered three decades ago remains undeniably reliable and a valuable record. Readers must, however, approach it with an awareness of its historical context: subsequent scholarship may have revised some information or opened other ways of interpreting it. This qualification helps situate the work within the continuing development of the field.

Veering away from the usually morbid and dark narratives associated with death, Rosal invites readers to encounter cemeteries as places of history and art. She begins with the broader landscape of Philippine history and art historiography before narrowing her focus to Iloilo and its colonial burial grounds. This progression gives readers the context needed to understand the sites and the circumstances that shaped them.

Her discussion examines the traditions, laws, and ordinances governing cemetery construction, including a concise account of “what makes a good cemetery.” Much of this material emerged from her investigation of sanidad de cemeterios files, or cemetery sanitation records, at the National Archives of the Philippines. Such archival work grounds her reading of these spaces in the practical concerns and regulations of their time.

Significant feat

More interestingly, Rosal has undertaken scientific materials analysis, a significant feat for a study that mainly focuses on art history. Her geological analysis to identify the stones used in Iloilo cemeteries should inspire humanities scholars to not be afraid to venture into the natural sciences. These stone types and their sources are summarized in a table, making it easier for the reader to look at and compare various data from several places at a glance. It is commendable how the author used an interdisciplinary approach in research ahead of her time.

Rosal selected eight cemeteries for their artistic significance, examining each through its town’s history, its building materials and their sources, and its architectural and decorative features. She also recognizes the contributions of the local people who built these cemeteries under daguio, the local term for polo y servicios.

She then delved into decorative motifs, which find further expression in the book’s design folio, offering glimpses of the period’s funerary artistic traditions.

All of these she was able to accomplish by doing a series of fieldwork and by formal analysis of art motifs. The author consulted a wide array of published and unpublished literature from 1850 to 1995 — from established Philippine art historiography to local magazines — and sifted through ephemera such as brochures and fiesta souvenirs.

She also interviewed cemetery workers, local historians and parish priests. Together, these sources demonstrate a research practice from which younger historians and cultural researchers can learn, especially in this era of instant information from the internet: visiting sites, examining records, listening to people, and bringing their accounts into conversation with the physical evidence. The book is a product of pure hard work at every turn of the page.

The original hand-drawn illustrations and maps that the book retained from the original manuscript would make AI-generated images of today pale in comparison. Long before digital mapping became an everyday convenience, Rosal was able to produce hand-crafted maps complete with proper scale and orientation.

Indispensable reference

Recent photographs by Stan Cabigas, supplemented by a gallery at the end of the volume, complement Rosal’s original text and images. They help bridge the three decades between the initial study and the book’s publication, allowing readers to consider the sites across time.

The glossary of Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, English and Spanish terms is also one of the many contributions of the book to overall scholarship in local and colonial art histories.

In the decades since Rosal undertook her research, some of Iloilo’s cemeteries have suffered damage from natural disasters and human activity. Her documentation consequently holds particular value for future conservation efforts. Details recorded in the original study may help researchers understand features that have since deteriorated, changed, or disappeared.

Rosal has laid an important foundation for the study of Spanish colonial cemeteries. The challenge now passes to succeeding generations of scholars: To revisit these sites, extend the inquiry to other areas, and bring additional disciplines into the conversation. Such work can build a fuller understanding of cemeteries as expressions of artistic practice, community life, and the ways people remember their dead.

Rosal now enjoys being a researcher and promoter of Western Visayas food and foodways, while remaining a steadfast advocate of Iloilo’s cultural heritage in every aspect.

Credit is due to the NHCP for recognizing the study’s merit and bringing it to publication, and to the publication team, particularly layout artist and book designer Effy Calingao, for giving the long-awaited work a fitting form.

After three decades of relative repose, Ig-Ampo Niño Cami enters a wider scholarly and public conversation. May this book inspire more profound studies on heritage documentation and local art history.