Ellen Adarna’s Grandfather Built “Temple Of Leah” For His Late Wife. This Is The Local Version Of “Taj Mahal”

Actress Ellen Adarna is the only daughter of her Filipina-Chinese mother and Filipino father. She is the eldest child of the owner of Queensland, a chain of motels in Cebu, Manila and Davao. 

Her grandfather, Teodorico Adarna, has built temple for his late wife, Leah Villa Albino-Adarna succumbed to lung cancer in 2012 at 69 years old.

This grandiose temple is called The Temple of Leah, being built to show a husband’s undying love for his wife. It is the local version of “Taj Mahal” in Agra, India. Ellen’s grandfather spent huge sums to build this temple. 

The said temple is situated at Brgy. Busay, Cebu. It has a 9-foot bronze statue of Leah, a symbol for her royalty and undeniable grace when she was crowned as the Matron Queen of her Alma Mater, the University of Southern Philippines. The statue costs P4m based on the report.

In Adarna’s interview with CNN Philippines, he said that the 500,000-square-meter property also serves as a repository for Leah’s items. Ellen’s late grandmother was an “avid collector of vases, ceramic statues, even small knick knacks, and souvenirs of the couple’s travels.”

He added: “For her, traveling is buying something.”

Adarna, an engineer by heart, began the temple’s construction in year 2013 and his target date to complete the whole of the temple is year 2020.

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He said, “When I’m gone. everyone will forget me. But when they see this they will remember me so as my wife.”

Meanwhile, Ellen posted a picture of her with her mother together with her grandma’s bronze statue of which the caption includes hashtags “grandma, mama, me and three generations.”

The locals said that the temple has been attracting a lot of tourists not just in the Philippines but also foreigners coming from the different parts of the world.

Source: pep

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