Cano Tan and his wife, Nita, in front of the Egyptian pyramid-inspired mausoleum.*
An Egyptian pyramid-inspired mausoleum stands out at the Greenhills Memorial Park (Chinese cemetery) in Barangay Estefania, Bacolod City, and has become a conversation piece among those who have seen it.
It is a creation of maverick businessman Ricardo “Cano” Tan who said he wanted a mausoleum for his family that was unlike any other – “something different and amazing”.
“I wanted something that is unique and Instagrammable,” he said.
The solar-powered mausoleum at night.*Carla N. Cañet photos
Buried in his pyramid is his son Ryan Rupert Tan who died of hemophilia in 1987 when he was 10 years old.
Tan said he decided to build his mausoleum in the shape of a pyramid because they were the burial places of ancient Egyptian royalty.
His son died of hemophilia that is called a “royal disease” so they are royalty, he joked.
Hemophilia is a rare inherited bleeding disorder that affected the royal families of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.
He also told his wife that he was building the pyramid because she is his Princess Nita, Tan said.
The four sides of the pyramid represents him, his wife and their two sons, he said.
Tan’s pyramid on a 135-square meter lot that was completed in June this year took two years to build.
It is guarded at the entrance by statues of the warrior angels Michael and Gabriel, and is solar-powered.
“I built it because I want to be buried in something different and extraordinary”, he said.
The center of the pyramid*CPG/CNC photos
At the center Tan’s pyramid is the grave of his son and other spaces for the rest of the family covered with onyx marble imported from China, and above them is a figure of the Ascension of Jesus Christ with angels at his feet.
Behind Christ figure is a blue wall with white clouds in a glass enclosure that has a waterfalls.
At the four corners of the top of the pyramid above the graves are stained glass windows of St. Joseph and the Child Jesus, The Risen Christ, Madonna and the Child Jesus and St. Peter the Apostle.
On the left and right side of the graves are living rooms decorated with Egyptian inspired furniture, figures and paintings.
There are also spaces for cremated remains designed with scrolls and quills similar to the time of Julius Caesar, Tan said.
The mausoleum also has male and female comfort rooms, and 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.
Tan, who owns Campuestohan Highland Resort, recently was recognized by the Guinness World Records for building the largest building in the world in the shape of a chicken.*