RESTING PLACE FIT FOR A ROYAL This mausoleum that draws inspiration from a pyramid, the resting place of Egyptian kings or pharaohs, at Greenhills Memorial Park in Bacolod City, shown here on Thursday, is attracting attention for its unique design. —CARLA P. GOMEZ .
BACOLOD CITY—A mausoleum whose facade looks like a replica of an Egyptian pyramid has become a conversation piece among those who have seen it at the Greenhills Memorial Park, commonly called here as the Chinese cemetery, in Barangay Estefania of this city.
According to owner Ricardo “Cano” Tan, he wanted a mausoleum for his family to be unlike any other: “Something different and amazing.”
“I wanted something that is unique and Instagrammable,” added Tan, who also owns another talked-about structure, the Campuestohan Highland Resort, which was recently recognized by the Guinness World Records for the largest building in the world in the shape of a fighting cock.
Tan said he decided to build his mausoleum in the shape of a pyramid since it is burial place of Egyptian pharaohs (kings) and royalty.
The mausoleum, completed in June this year, is now the resting place of Tan’s son Ryan Rupert, who died of hemophilia in 1987 when he was 10.
Since hemophilia, a blood disorder characterized by excessive bleeding that is also called a “royal disease” for affecting the royal families of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, Tan said it was also proper to build a mausoleum for his son afflicted with a “royal” ailment.
Tan said the four sides of the pyramid represent him, his wife Nita, son Ralph Richard and deceased son Ryan Rubert.
Tan’s mausoleum sits on a 135-square meter lot that took two years to build. It is solar-powered and guarded at the entrance by statues of the warrior angels.
“I built it because I want to be buried in something different and extraordinary,” he said.
Expansive decorations
At the center of Tan’s pyramid is the tomb of his son and other spaces for the rest of the family covered with onyx marble imported from China. Above the tomb is a figure of the Ascension of Jesus Christ with angels at his feet.
Behind the Christ figure is a blue wall with white clouds in a glass enclosure that has a waterfall.
At the four uppermost corners of the pyramid above the tomb are stained glass windows of St. Joseph and the Child Jesus, the risen Christ, Madonna (the Blessed Virgin Mary) and the Child Jesus and St. Peter the Apostle.
The left and right corners of the mausoleum have living rooms decorated with Egyptian inspired furniture, figures and paintings.
There are also spaces for niches of cremated remains designed with scrolls and quills similar to the time of Julius Caesar.
The mausoleum has two toilets—one for male and another for females as well as a dining room—all with Egyptian inspired decorations.
“I am a dreamer. I am a person with so many firsts. I always think differently,” Tan said.