Charming Chapels of Negros : La Salle Chapel / Doña Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Chapel

Many Negrenses are familiar with this place of worship, this being the University of St. La Salle Main Chapel. But not many are aware that the Doña Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Chapel is a designated Important Cultural Property designed by Negrense Leandro V. Locsiin, a National Artist for Architecture. The chapel’s elegant minimalism and stylized Parthenon silhouette mark it as an early gem among the master’s works.



Completed in 1966, the Doña Corazon Locsin Montelibano Chapel on the University of St. La Salle campus in Bacolod City was designed by National Artist for Architecture Leandro V. Locsin. It is an early example of his characteristic modernist, brutalist style, and has been designated an Important Cultural Property by the Philippine government.



The altar of the Doña Corazon Locsin Montelibano Chapel in Bacolod City was once placed in the center of the chapel, with the priest celebrating mass in-the-round. It has since been relocated to the eastern side of the chapel, where it is flanked by views of the Handumanan Park gardens beside it.



Doña Corazon Locsin Montelibano  was the first wife of former Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Montelibano Sr. He donated the land that the University of St. La Salle was built on, as well as the funding to construct this chapel in her memory.


Text By: Vicente Garcia Groyon
Photos By: John Kimwell Laluma
Video By: Grilled Cheese Studios