A Piece of Rizal's European Friendship Is Coming Home

Something belonging to the historical world shared by José Rizal and one of his closest friends is about to begin another journey. This time, the journey leads to the Philippines.

José Rizal and Ferdinand Blumentritt forged a lasting friendship through correspondence and a single meeting in Leitmeritz in 1887. Historical objects preserved by Blumentritt's descendants are now set to return to the Philippines. [Photo: National Museum of the Philippines]

On September 17, historical objects preserved by the family of Ferdinand Blumentritt of Austria are scheduled for ceremonial turnover to the National Museum of the Philippines at the Philippine Embassy in Vienna.

The historical objects are being donated by the Blumentritt family of Kufstein, Austria, courtesy of Elke Pickert, Blumentritt's great-great-granddaughter.

Precisely what will be handed over has not yet been publicly detailed.

That unanswered question makes the occasion even more intriguing.

Pickert is no stranger to the Philippines or to the National Museum. In February 2025, she and her husband, Michael Ocvirk, visited the National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila.

There she encountered works by two Filipinos who had been close to her ancestor: Rizal and Juan Luna.

Among the objects they saw was Luna's watercolor Bandera Filipina, which was given by Luna to Blumentritt during the Filipino painter's visit to Litoměřice, then known as Leitmeritz.

The National Museum identifies the painting as a loan from the National Library of the Philippines.

The National Museum says Luna's watercolor Bandera Filipina was given by Luna to Blumentritt during Luna's visit to Litoměřice, then Leitmeritz. The work is currently identified by the NMP as a loan from the National Library of the Philippines. [Photo: National Gallery of Art, Manila]

Pickert herself brought something on that visit.

She presented the National Museum with reproductions of Luna's watercolor portraits of Blumentritt's daughter, Dolores.

More than a year later, the relationship between the Blumentritt family and the Philippines appears ready to acquire another chapter.

And there is something almost poetic about it.

Ferdinand Blumentritt never visited the Philippines. Yet few Europeans of his generation invested so much intellectual energy in understanding the Filipino people.

He studied Philippine languages, ethnography, history and culture from Europe and maintained correspondence with Filipino reformists.

Most importantly, he became a friend, confidant and intellectual companion to Rizal. Their friendship began almost accidentally.

In July 1886, the 25-year-old Rizal, then studying in Germany, learned that an Austrian scholar was studying Tagalog.

On July 31, Rizal sent Blumentritt a Tagalog-Spanish arithmetic book accompanied by a letter. Blumentritt responded, beginning what became a lifelong correspondence.

Books followed. Letters followed. Ideas followed. Then friendship.

The correspondence continued for the remaining decade of Rizal's life. Through their letters, the two discussed Philippine history, languages, ethnology, natural history, politics and the condition of Filipinos under Spanish colonial rule.

Blumentritt also connected Rizal with European scholars and provided letters of introduction during Rizal's travels.

But perhaps his greatest contribution to Rizal was something less measurable.

He took the Philippines seriously.

Imagine what that must have meant to a young Filipino moving through a Europe in which his countrymen were subjects of a distant colony and frequently viewed through the prejudices of empire.

Here was an Austrian scholar who had never seen Manila, Laguna or the Philippine countryside, yet considered Filipino language, culture and history worthy of serious study.

Blumentritt did not need Filipino blood to recognize Filipino worth. And perhaps therein lies one of the enduring lessons of their friendship.

Patriotism is naturally born from belonging. But sometimes somebody standing outside one's country helps its people see more clearly what inside that country deserves defending.

Blumentritt was also no mere admirer. He disagreed with Rizal. He cautioned him. He challenged some of his judgments. He worried about the dangers Rizal faced.

Their friendship mattered not because one man continuously applauded the other, but because each respected the other enough to permit disagreement. That may be one reason the correspondence endured.

A friend is not merely somebody who stands beside you. Sometimes he is the person sufficiently trusted to stand against your argument.

Rizal and Blumentritt met face-to-face only once, in Leitmeritz, in May 1887. Rizal and his friend Maximo Viola arrived there during Rizal's European tour, and Blumentritt welcomed them.

They spent several days together before Rizal continued his journey.

Yet their friendship survived geography because its foundation was not proximity.

It was ideas. That makes the September 17 turnover particularly evocative.

For generations, the Blumentritt family has carried a connection to Philippine history established by an ancestor who never reached Philippine shores. Now, historical objects from that family are scheduled to enter the custody of the institution entrusted with preserving the Filipino nation's material memory.

There remain questions.

What exactly are the objects? How long have they remained with the Blumentritt family? Are any directly connected with Rizal, Luna or other Filipino reformists?

And perhaps the most interesting question of all: Why has the family decided that they should come to the Philippines now?

Those answers may emerge when the objects are formally turned over in Vienna.

But even before the objects are formally presented and their inventory becomes known, the journey itself carries meaning.

More than 140 years ago, books, letters and ideas began traveling between a Filipino intellectual and an Austrian scholar.

They crossed borders. They survived distance. Their friendship outlived both men. Their correspondence became part of the documentary record through which later generations came to understand Rizal himself.

And now, something preserved on the other end of that friendship is preparing to make the journey that Ferdinand Blumentritt never did.

Perhaps history occasionally travels in circles. Rizal once sent a book toward Blumentritt. Blumentritt returned knowledge, friendship and an abiding belief that the Philippines was worth understanding.

Generations later, his descendants are sending something back.

What they preserved as family memory may soon become part of a nation's memory.

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