Friday, September 28, 2007

Trivia at Santo Domingo

This is a note to explain a bit of trivia history… first I had no idea about Chris.Columbus, and where he landed and hung out… so I learned and will pass it on, As I’m sure you are dying to know this. When we first got to, Santo Domingo, and started to work in the Church Employment Center I noticed the University across the street and on a lunch break we walked over and around the campus with the students,, (120,000 or more) really.. we were told by our Boss, Domingo Ayabar that he graduated from here (his first degree) and it is the oldest University in the western hemisphere Est. 1538. Then we took a few hours off and went to “Old Town Domingo”…. A restored part of the city… and learned a ton more. I will include a few pics. Of the oldest road, the oldest Cathedral, and the oldest Fortress in the Americas,,,the Cathedral and the road are still used today. However the fort is not as you can imagine.. Chris. Columbus’ son Diego was the first Viceroy and laid the first stone in the Cathedral. The fort, est. in 1503, was also a prison and Diago Columbus and his wife lived here after it was no longer used as a prison. I’m sure this is So interesting to you,, so one more item.. Sir Francis Drake stayed in the Cathedral, in one of the (13) chapels and had a fit, and chipped off the nose and hands of a bishops statue… The rest is history… Now I have to learn about how all of this transpired..I thought Columbus landed at Plymouth Rock.. ????
Me and Christopher Columbus The new LDS Templo ( spanish for temple) in Santo Domingo
Two pic of the old Cathedral

Old Street
Old Fort

4 comments:

KT2 said...

Great blog! i'm so glad to see the photos - it's so beautiful there! Sounds like it is going well! We miss you guys! Thanks for staying in touch!

Anonymous said...

You didn't REALLY think Columbus landed at Plymouth Rock, did you?

Anonymous said...

I went to Google image search looking for a picture of the Santo Domingo Temple since we in St. Lucia are in that temple district. There were several, but I liked one in particular and followed the link to get the original. Imagine my surprise to find it with the names of our "old" friends, the Tanners. We met at the MTC, passed each other briefly in Georgetown, Guyana, and missed each other by minutes in Castries, St. Lucia.
So, hello from the short-term inhabitants of the little apartment on Garnett and the little house on Cedar Court. What fun to run into you in cypberspace! I enjoyed reading about the history of Santo Domingo. History is one of our favorite things.
If we have a library in need of help, what do we do to start something moving with reference to Humanitarian services? I don't even know if they want help, but the newest books I saw in the children's library were circa 1960. One of them was Art Linkletter's Children's Encyclopedia for example.
If you've guessed who we are, give us an e-mail to answer my question.
Best of everything,
Another Senior Missionary Couple

F. O. Bodden said...

Great! Let me share a few facts about the creation of the university. It happened under the reign of Charles I, King of Spain. Pope Paul III issued the papal bull "In Apostolatum Culmine" (latin for 'At The Summit of our Apostleship')Pope Paul III was also known as Leon III. When instituted, it was given the name of Saint Thomas Aquinas. In modern times it was then changed to Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo - UASD (Autonomous University of Santo Domingo). Thanks for posting about this. I am from the Dominican Republic.

--Ferner O. Bodden
Mesa, AZ, USA.
fobodden28@yahoo.com