Manila’s Pontifical and Royal Campus (Part 5, a center for faith and thought)

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By the 1930’s as the University of Santo Tomas began to settle itself comfortably at its new home in Sampaloc, plans and works were under way for the expansion of what was then just a one-building complex in the middle of what was then a vast tract of land that was its campus. One of the buildings being planned was one that would serve as the University church and residence as well: of the Dominican priests who are assigned there and the seminarians learning to become Dominican priests themselves.

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Manila’s Pontifical and Royal Campus (Part 4)

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the Urban Roamer’s UST campus map

Located right next to the St. Martin De Porres Bldg. in the University of Santo Tomas campus is another academic building named after a saint. Despite it being named after a Dominican friar and who is a patron saint of lawyers (especially those studying canon law) and UST offering degrees in civil and canon laws, the St. Raymond of Peñafort Bldg. is not the home of the university’s law programs. Completed in 1955, the building is home to the Faculty of Arts and Letters and the College of Commerce and Business Administration.

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Manila’s Pontifical and Royal Campus (Part 3: the medical legacy)

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As interesting as the scholastic legacy, the University of Santo Tomas also bears a noteworthy legacy to the practice of medicine in the country ever since the university first offered degrees in medicine in 1875. UST at the time did not have its own hospital for its medical students to be able to train what they’ve learned. It was decreed instead that the then 300+ old hospital of San Juan De Dios (in Intramuros near the old UST campus) be the university’s training institution for medicine.

With the onslaught of World War II in the country, the administration of San Juan De Dios Hospital was given to UST for the meantime throughout the wartime era, the end of which saw the destruction of both San Juan De Dios and the old UST in Intramuros. San Juan De Dios would be rebuilt and relocated down south to Pasay while UST’s medical program would be relocated north to the then growing Sampaloc campus.

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Manila’s Pontifical and Royal Campus (Part 2)

 

Located right across Plaza Intramuros and Benavides on the eastern side is an up-and-coming structure to be opened sometime in the 2nd half of 2011. This would be the 4-storey UST Sports Complex. This would serve as the home of the university’s varsity team the UST Growling Tigers with a gymnasium that can accommodate up to almost 5,800 people, with provisions for holding activities basketball, badminton, gymnastics, table tennis, indoor running track, dancing, and a fitness center. Given the university’s rich athletic history, it will also house a museum showcasing memorabilia like trophies, medals won by the university in various sporting competitions, especially in the UAAP which UST is a founding member.

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