Casa Tuâ: San Pedro Tunasán's heritage museum

Museum and Galleries Month is not just about the National Museum or the Ayala Museum. This special month also includes the recognition and promotion of smaller local museums. While bigger museums showcase the artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific history and importance of our country as a whole, local museums tend do the same but on a more local level. Such is the case of San Pedro Tunasán's Casa Tuâ, a heritage museum which also serves as the home of Dr. Welit Guevara.

 

The owner comes from one of San Pedro Tunasán's oldest families. His family's "old school" tastes have greatly influenced his passion for heritage conservation. The house itself dates back to the late 1800s. As such, he has filled his house/museum with over a hundred vintage framed photographs, paintings, and other antique items not only of his forefathers but also of people and places from all over San Pedro Tunasán and its Lagunense neighbors such as Biñán and Santa Rosa.

Dr. Guevara displays old photographs of San Pedro vistas and personalities outside his house in the hopes of attracting visitors. Admission is always free. The bulk of visitors are usually elementary students who just pass by in front of his house. In fact, the good doctor really has them in mind when he first opened up his ancestral home to the public. "Start 'em young" is his goal. To entice them some more, he gives them free candies as they tour around the house. He is hoping that his effort would at least inculcate in their young minds the importance of heritage conservation.

Mómay at the entrance to Casa Tuâ. the house's gallery of old photographs is called "Fondazione San Pedro".

The owner wants to impart his knowledge of Filipino heritage to the youth of San Pedro Tunasán. 

A pañuelo on display which was used by Dr. Guevara's grandmother.

A 1919 photograph of the Church of San Pedro Apóstol taken during the funeral of a certain Antonino Anciano. This is also where Yeyette and I got married two years ago.

The owner of the house proudly displays old letters and postcards from family members and friends. Here's one addressed to  Fr. José Ponce, a former parish priest of San Pedro Tunasán. Yes, this city used to be Spanish-speaking back in the day.

During its younger years, this house used to extend all the way to the banks of the San Isidro River which was then wide and deep.

The dining area's flooring are made of 19th century machuca tiles, the same ones used in the Church of Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados in Santa Ana de Sapa, Manila. Dr. Guevara also said that the parish church of San Pedro Tunasán used to have these tiles in the past.

The interiors of the house are filled with antique furniture.

Dr. Guevara explained to us that this antique mueble is designed with sampaguita flower carvings, emphasizing San Pedro Tunasán's rich sampaguita heritage of the past. In this photo collage, my wife points to the said design.

When asked for the meaning of "Casa Tuâ", the owner clarified that it is not the surname of anyone from San Pedro. It is in fact the old spelling of the Tagálog word for "joy" (an alternate spelling for it is "toua"; today, the word is now spelled as "tuwa"). It's because he wanted young visitors to remember nothing but happy memories after having visited his humble heritage-filled abode.

Casa Tuâ is located right below the San Isidro Bridge near the población. It is, in fact, just a few steps away from the old town church and plaza. Click here for more photos! ¡Hasta la vista!