Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste's love for Philippine history and cultural heritage has once again come to the fore with his latest big purchase, all the way from Germany.

This, after the billionaire businessman-turned-House of Representatives member bought with his own money the actual house in Wilhelmsfeld, Germany where Filipino polymath and de facto national hero José Rizal wrote the final chapters of his novel, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not).

Leviste did so to preserve the site and promote Philippine history. The purchase was announced in a Facebook post from the solon Sunday afternoon, March 15, although no financial details were shared on the post.

It was reported that since 1886, the house had served as the residence of Wilhelmsfeld’s pastors. But after the Covid-19 pandemic, the property was no longer in use, and was offered to Senator Loren Legarda, the Batangas congressman's mother.

With no other buyers to preserve it, Legarda suggested that her son purchase the house and—with no expense to the Philippine government — turn it into a museum. It is envisioned to be open to Filipinos and foreign visitors in Wilhelmsfeld to help them better understand Rizal’s life and works.

The post indicated that the purchase and preservation of the house aim to safeguard a historic site where ideas were born that helped ignite the Philippine Revolution and shape the nation.

Last week, Leviste attended a signing ceremony with Dr. Franz Hack Ullmer, great-grandson of Pastor Ullmer; representatives of the Protestant church that owned the house; Dr. Tobias Dangel, Mayor of Wilhelmsfeld; and Herbert Ehses, German chapter commander of the Knights of Rizal.

Dr. Ullmer also gave Leviste a table resembling the one Rizal used to write Noli Me Tangere, along with other items from the Ullmer family’s Rizal collection.

Mayor Dangel and Dr. Ullmer showed him several sites in Wilhelmsfeld honoring Rizal, including a statue in Rizal Park and the street where the house stands, named Jose Rizal Strasse. Together with Ehses, they expressed pride that even in Germany, the Knights of Rizal exist and Philippine history is valued.

Rizal lived in Wilhelmsfeld in 1886 while studying ophthalmology at the University of Heidelberg, at the invitation of his friend Pastor Karl Ullmer.

It was also here that Rizal wrote the poem A las flores de Heidelberg, which expressed his remembrance of the Philippines while he was studying in Germany.

In November 2025, Leviste announced his purchase of the Solidaridad Bookshop, the iconic literary institution and long-standing cultural landmark in Manila that was founded by National Artist F. Sionil Jose.

Leviste had also vowed to preserve the bookshop.