The National Museum of the Philippines is our country's official repository of fossils, artifacts, and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance to our people. Established 113 years ago today, this center for culture and the arts located in Ermita, Manila started out as a natural history and ethnography museum. It now has four sections: The National Art Gallery; the Museum of the Filipino People; the National Museum of Natural History, and; the National Planetarium.
Perhaps some of the museum's most famous possessions are Juan Luna's Spoliarium and the Laguna Copperplate Inscription. The museum also has priceless artifacts from sunken ships of yore, gold and silver jewelry, traditional clothing, preserved endemic plants, insects, and animals, works of art, and so much more. And to compensate for the lack of dinosaur fossils (those giant prehistoric lizards were not known to have trod our soil), the museum has an enormous skeleton of a sperm whale, large enough to send gleeful chills down your children's spines.
To commemorate the museum's 113th anniversary which falls today, our family is sharing photos of our visit there two years ago (October 30). And we would also like to take this opportunity to encourage all Filipino parents to bring their children to museums from time to time, in order to immerse their young minds into our country's beautiful tangible heritage and rich history. One good way of teaching your kids about culture and the arts is by bringing them to museums. Because real education is beyond textbooks. And beyond the four walls of a classroom. I do remember my classroom back in the sixth grade which only had three walls, though. Haha. But that's beside the point. Touring your kids to the National Museum of the Philippines is like sending them to school already, but in a fun-filled way. A child's mind is like a sponge: it easily absorbs everything it sees. And teaching them the importance of culture and the arts at an early age will inculcate in them more good breeding because the stock of national treasures stored in our museo nacional gives one a sense of identity. Remember that culture is power which frees us from ignorance, apathy, and what I'd like to call "Vice Ganda Culture" (sue me). Anyway, just bring the whole family with you to this museum and be mesmerized by the items there which you only get to read in books and magazines. Admission is free up to the 31st.
¡Feliz aniversario al Museo Nacional de Filipinas!
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| My kids enjoying an actual Ifugáo house. |
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| My wife was so thrilled to see the La Laguna Copperplate Inscription for the first time. |
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| Juan Luna's massive Spoliarium (oil on canvas, 1884) which measures 422 cm x 767.5 cm, much larger than a passenger jeepney! |
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| At the senate session hall of the Old Legislative Building. This edifice was proclaimed a National Historical Landmark four years ago. It now houses the National Art Gallery. |
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| Legendary statesmen such Claro M. Recto, Cipriano Primicias, Enrique Magalona, Mariano Jesús Cuenco, and a host of other great minds once guided the state of the nation from within this spacious hall. My kids turned it into a resting place afterwards. |
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| Las Lavanderas (oil on board, 1932) by Fernando Amorsolo. |
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| Momay and Jefe are so amazed at the size of this sperm whale's preserved skeleton! See this and other interesting preserved flora and fauna at the National Museum of Natural History. |
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| So true! |
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