Hotel De Oriente in Las Casas

One of the highlights of my stay at Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar was visiting and going inside Hotel De Oriente.

Hotel De Oriente in Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar

This building was named and modeled after the original Hotel De Oriente, which was built in 1889 and was the first premiere hotel in the Philippines. According to my guide, the original hotel was the first building in the country to have electricity and the second, after Malacanang Palace, to have a telephone. The new Hotel De Oriente in Las Casas now serves as a convention centre. In fact, it was the venue of the APEC Summit in 2015.

Interior of Hotel De Oriente

What I found most striking is that its interior is filled with beautiful and intricate wood mosaic. The ceiling showcases mosaic representations of National Artist Carlos "Botong" Francisco's paintings.

Wood mosaic representation of a Botong Francisco painting

At the center of the ground floor is a large mosaic representation of Juan Luna's Spoliarium. It actually appeared in one of the wedding videos and I immediately wondered where that photo was taken so I was very excited when I saw it. Naturally, I had to have my own photo taken with it.

Wood mosaic representation of Juan Luna's Spoliarium

The guide told me that all the mosaics in the building were created by local Bagac women (Las Casas is in Bagac, Bataan). They designed the mosaic, planned out how the wood would be laid out, identified what color each piece should be, and put everything together. That is really impressive!

Also stunning are wood carvings featured throughout the building interior. The guide told me that Las Casas hired wood carvers from Paete, Laguna and Betis, Pampanga. Apparently, many wood carvers in the Philippines tried getting work abroad as fruit carvers abroad but many came back home because fruit carving turned out to be quite different from wood carving. As such, it's really good that they found work here. The resort is still not done, with a lot of work still planned for the future, so these wood carvers will continue to be employed at Las Casas in the foreseeable future.

Local artists were also commissioned to create paintings of flowers that are on display inside the Manila Hall. The guide told me that the painters created these artworks using their imagination so it's possible that some of these flowers might not actually exist in real life.

Inside Manila Hall

I believe there are are some Las Casas packages that include entrance to Hotel De Oriente. If you decide to visit or stay at the resort, be sure to check out if your booking includes a ticket to the convention centre. If not, I highly recommend paying the P200 entrance fee because it is absolutely worth it.

Next: Final thoughts on my visit to Las Casas Filipinas De Acuzar