Discovering all that the country offers

Today, my wife Neni talks of the many initiatives leading to being Guest of Honor at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

The GoH Committee for the Philippines as Guest of Honor in the Frankfurter Buchmesse is in Frankfurt for the country's second and final press conference with featured authors Candy Gourlay and Blaise Campo Gacoscos.

Because "the imagination peoples the air," a line borrowed from Rizal's Noli and Guest of Honor theme, the last morning in Manila for the seven visiting German journalists was another chance to be steeped in Philippine culture and history. It was spent at the National Library's Gallery where the original Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo manuscripts are housed.

This noteworthy Gallery, a project of National Library director Cesar Gilbert Adriano, is a special area where priceless manuscripts important to our history are secured and preserved. Truly, a treasury of words, as this inscription on the wall says: "And with words a nation was born." It was recalled how German book conservators came to help the Library preserve Rizal's manuscripts years back.

A related stop was the National Museum where Rizal's paintings and sculptures are on exhibit. There were also the Hibla exhibit and the Baybayin Gallery, offering concrete evidence of our own written language in prehistoric times. A surprise sneak preview was given by Gigo Alampay for CANVAS' forthcoming 20th anniversary exhibit, now newly opened.